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A 

GRAMMAR 

OF    THE 

ENGLISH   LANGUAGE, 


THE 


ENGLISH   GRAMMAR 


OF 


WILLIAM    COBBETT. 


CAREFULLY  REVISED  AND  ANNOTATED 

BY   ALFRED   AYRES, 

AUTHOR   OF   "THE    ORTHOEPIST,"    "  THE   VERBALIST,"    ETC. 


The  only  amusing  grammar  in  the  world. — Henry  Lvtton  Bulwer. 
Interesting  as  a  story-book. — Hazlitt. 

I  know  it  well,  and  have  read  it  with  great  admiration. — Richard 
Grant  White. 


NEW   YORK   AND    LONDON 

D.    APPLETON     AND    COMPANY 

1919 


Copyright,  1883,  by 
D.   APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 


Copyright,  1911,  by 
FRANK   E.  TREMAIN 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


Q.G.- 


EDITOR'S  NOTE. 


Cobbett's  Grammar  is  probably  the  most  read- 
able  grammar  ever  written.  For  the  purposes  of  self- 
education  it  is  unrivaled.  Persons  that  studied  gram- 
mar when  at  school  and  failed  to  comprehend  its 
principles — and  there  are  many  such — as  well  as  those 
that  never  have  studied  grammar  at  all,  will  find  the 
book  specially  suited  to  their  needs.  Any  one  of 
average  intelligence  that  will  give  it  a  careful  reading 
will  be  rewarded  with  at  least  a  tolerable  knowledge 
of  the  subject,  as  nothing  could  be  more  simple  or 
more  lucid  than  its  expositions. 

The  first  edition  of  the  book  was  published  in  Lon- 
don, in  December,  1818 — sixty-four  years  ago.  In 
preparing  this  edition,  I  have  called  attention — 1.  To 
the  points  in  which  Cobbett's  teachings  differ  from 
what  is  now  considered  the  best  usage  ;  2.  To  the 
few  errors  of  diction  found  in  its  pages  ;  and,  3.  To  a 


JT7.o<v~v*y/m 


6  EDITOR'S  NOTE. 

better — because  discriminating — use  of  the  relative 
pronouns  than  we  find  either  here,  or  almost  any- 
where else  in  modern  literature — better  than  I  myself, 
until  very  recently,  have  observed. 

These  pronominal  corrections  are  made  in  accord- 
ance with  the  fact  that  WHO  and  WHICH  are  prop- 
erly the  co-ordinating  relative  pronouns,  and  that 
that  is  properly  the  restrictive  relative  pronoun. 
Whenever  a  clause  restricts,  limits,  defines,  qualifies 
the  antecedent,  i.  e.,  whenever  it  is  adjectival — explana- 
tory in  its  functions — it  should  be  introduced  with  the 
relative  pronoun  THAT,  and  not  with  WHICH  nor  with 
who  or  whom.  The  indiscriminate  use  of  the  rela- 
tives sometimes  makes  it  impossible  to  be  certain  what 
the  writer  would  say. 

Let  us  take  one  or  two  simple  examples  :  "  I  met 
the  watchman  who  showed  me  the  way."  Does  this 
mean,  I  met  the  watchman  and  he  showed  me  the 
way,  or  does  it  mean  that  of  several  watchmen  I  met 
the  one  that — on  some  previous  occasion — showed  me 
the  way?  It  should  mean  the  former,  and  would 
mean  that  and  nothing  else,  if  we  discriminated  in  the 
use  of  who  and  that.  Again,  the  familiar  line  from 
Goldsmith,  "  And  fools,  who  came  to  scoff,  remained 
to  pray."  Does  this  mean,  And  the  fools  that  came, 
though  they  came  to  scoff,  remained  to  pray,  or  does 


EDITOR'S  NOTE.  7 

ui  mean  that  some  of  the  fools  that  came,  came  to 
scoff,  and  these  remained  to  pray  ?  Probably  the  for- 
mer is  the  meaning,  but  as  the  line  stands,  this,  no 
matter  how  general  the  opinion,  can  be  only  conjec- 
ture, as  every  one  must  admit  that  the  meaning  in- 
tended may  be  the  latter.  If  the  latter  is  the  mean- 
ing, it  is  clear  that  the  proper  relative  to  use  is  that. 
Again  :  "  It  is  requested  that  all  members  of  Council, 
who  are  also  members  of  the  Lands  Committee,  will 
assemble  in  the  Council-room."  Does  this  mean  that 
all  the  members  of  Council  are  also  members  of  the 
Lands  Committee  and  that  they  shall  assemble,  or 
does  it  mean  that  such  members  of  Council  as  are 
also  members  of  the  Lands  Committee  shall  assem- 
ble ?  Again  :  "  The  volume  is  recommended  to  all 
geologists  to  whom  the  Secondary  rocks  of  England 
are  a  subject  of  interest."  Is  the  volume  recommended 
to  all  geologists,  or  to  such  only  as  take  an  interest  in 
Secondaiy  rocks  ?  Again  :  "  He  had  commuted  the 
sentence  of  the  Circassian  officers  who  had  conspired 
against  Arabi  Bey  and  his  fellow  ministers — a  pro- 
ceeding which  [that]  naturally  incensed  the  so-called 
Egyptian  party."  Did  all  the  Circassian  officers  con- 
spire, or  only  a  part  of  them  ? 

Who  and    which   are    the   proper   co-ordinating 
relatives  to  use  when  the  antecedent  is  completely  ex- 


8  EDITOR'S  NOTE. 

pressed  without  the  help  of  the  clause  introduced  by 
the  relative.  Thus  :  "  The  society  now  numbers  nearly 
twenty  members,  who  (=  and  they)  have  given  up  all 
family  ties  and  devoted  themselves  entirely  to  religious 
work."  "  The  choir  consists  of  about  sixty  men  and 
boys  who  are  surpliced."  "  But  some  of  their  friends, 
who  (=  persons  that)  are  wealthy  and  influential 
members  of  the  church,  did  not  like  to  have  them 
give  up  their  work  in  Boston,  which  had  been  at- 
tended with  great  results,  and  urged  them  to  return, 
which  they  have  consented  to  do,  and  they  will  soon 
begin  work  anew  at  the  old  church,  which  is  the 
property  of  the  Society  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist." 

In  the  following  examples,  the  errors  are  corrected 
in  brackets :  The  heirs,  who  are  very  numerous,  will 
be  present,  i.  e.,  all  the  heirs.  The  heirs,  who  have 
been  notified,  will  be  present,  i.  e.,  all  the  heirs.  The 
heirs  that  have  been  notified  will  be  present,  i.  e.,  only 
those  notified.  The  heirs,  whom  I  have  seen,  will  be 
present,  i.  e.,  all  the  heirs.  The  heirs  that  I  have 
seen  will  be  present,  i.  e.,  only  those  seen.  I  study 
grammar,  which  I  like  very  much.  Give  me  the 
grammar  that  lies  on  the  desk.  He  struck  the  man, 
who — i.  e.,  though  he — had  done  him  no  harm.  He 
struck  the  man  that  insulted  him.  He  struck  the 
wrong  man — the  one  that  had  done  him   no  harm. 


EDITORS  NOTE.  9 

The  house,  which  is  built  of  brick,  is  very  warm. 
The  house  that  is  built  of  brick  is  the  warmest.  The 
cat — i.  e.,  the  species — which  you  so  dislike,  is  a  useful 
animal.  The  cat — i.  e.,  the  individual — that  you  so 
dislike,  is  a  very  pretty  one.  He  jumped  into  the 
water,  which  greatly  frightened  his  mother.  He  at- 
tends to  his  own  affairs,  which  is  the  way  to  make 
them  prosper.  He  that  attends  to  his  own  affairs  is 
likely  to  see  them  prosper.  The  man  that  I  saw  is 
tall.  This  man,  whom  I  know  well,  is  a  good  plow- 
man. "  He  that  lets  the  sun  go  down  on  his  wrath," 
etc.  "  The  rich  despise  those  who  [that]  flatter  too 
much,  and  hate  those  who  [that]  do  not  flatter  at  all." 
"  An  ambitious  man  whom  [that]  you  can  serve  will 
often  aid  you  to  rise,"  etc.  "  He  that  feeds  man  serv- 
eth  few — he  serveth  all  who  [that]  dares  be  true." 
"  The  curious  inquirer  who  [that]  sets  himself,"  etc. 
"  This  book  has  been  made  for  those  who  [that]  aim  to 
have,"  etc.  "  The  people  who  [that]  are  expecting, 
under  the  new  code.  .  .  .  The  people  will  not  consent, 
under  a  government  which  [that]  depends  upon  their 
will,  to  adopt  the  Sabbatarian  notions  which  [that]  the 
old  Puritans.  .  .  .  Yet  there  are  some  narrow  minds 
in  New  York  who  [that]  still  think.  .  .  .  They  have  no 
sympathy  with  those  who  [that]  would  force.  .  .  . 
Then  there  are  the  Jews,  who  do  not  feel  .  .  .  and 


IO  EDITOR'S  NOTE. 

who  claim  the  right  to  work  or  play  on  Sunday.  .  .  , 
The  population  would  be  sunk  in  gloom,  which  would, 
of  course,"  etc.  "  We  may  envy  the  man  who  [that] 
enjoys  and  rests,  but  the  smile  of  Heaven  settles  rather 
on  the  front  of  him  who  [that?]  labors  and  aspires." 
(Bulwer.) 

Spoken  language  is  accompanied  with  emphasis, 
inflection,  and  gesture  ;  written  language  has  no  such 
aids.  Hence,  in  writing,  if  we  would  make  sure  of 
conveying  just  what  we  have  in  our  minds,  we  must 
exercise  great  care  in  the  choice  and  the  arrangement 
of  our  words. 

A.  A. 
New  York,  February,  1883. 


CONTENTS. 


LETTER  PAGE 

editor's  note 5 

i. — introduction 13 

ii. — definition  of  grammar  and  of  its  differ- 
ent branches  or  parts     .        .        .        .20 
III. — etymology:  THE  DIFFERENT  parts  OF  SPEECH, 

OR  sorts  of  words 25 

IV. — ETYMOLOGY   OF  ARTICLES  .  .  .  .23 

V. — ETYMOLOGY    OF   NOUNS 35 

VI. — ETYMOLOGY   OF    PRONOUNS        .  .  .  .42 

VII. — ETYMOLOGY   OF   ADJECTIVES     .  .  .  .      50 

VIII. — ETYMOLOGY    OF   VERBS 53 

IX. — ETYMOLOGY   OF   ADVERBS  .  .  .  •      7^ 

X. — ETYMOLOGY    OF    PREPOSITIONS  .  .  .79 

XL — ETYMOLOGY   OF   CONJUNCTIONS         .  .  .      8l 

XII. — CAUTIONARY   REMARKS 8l 

XIII. — SYNTAX    GENERALLY    CONSIDERED    .  .  .83 

XIV. — SYNTAX  :    THE   POINTS  AND  MARKS  MADE  USE 

OF  IN  WRITING 84 

XV. — SYNTAX,  AS    RELATING   TO    ARTICLES         .  .      95 

XVI. — SYNTAX,  AS   RELATING  TO   NOUNS    .  .  .      97 

XVII. — SYNTAX,  AS    RELATING   TO    PRONOUNS        .  .    102 

XVIII. — SYNTAX,  AS   RELATING  TO   ADJECTIVES   .  .    126 


12  CONTENTS. 

LETTER  PAGE 

XIX. — SYNTAX,  AS   RELATING  TO   VERBS      .  .  .    128 

XX. — SYNTAX,  AS   RELATING   TO   ADVERBS,  PREPOSI- 
TIONS, AND   CONJUNCTIONS  ....    163 
XXI. — SPECIMENS   OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  TAKEN   FROM 
THE  WRITINGS  OF  DR.  JOHNSON,  AND  FROM 

THOSE  OF   DR.  WATTS 165 

XXII. — ERRORS  AND   NONSENSE   IN   A  KING'S   SPEECH.    187 
XXIII. — ON   PUTTING   SENTENCES    TOGETHER,    AND   ON 

FIGURATIVE   LANGUAGE  ....    I96 

XXIV. — SIX   LESSONS,  INTENDED   TO   PREVENT  STATES- 
MEN   FROM    USING    FALSE    GRAMMAR,    AND 
FROM  WRITING  IN  AN  AWKWARD  MANNER   .    201 
LESSON 

I. — ON    THE    SPEECH    OF  THE    RIGHT   HONORABLE 
MANNERS  SUTTON,  SPEAKER   OF  THE  HOUSE 

OF  COMMONS 204 

II. — ON   HIS   MAJESTY'S  SPEECH    AT  THE   CLOSE  OF 

THE   SESSION   IN    1819 213 

III. — ON  THE   NOTE   OF   LORD   CASTLEREAGH   RELA- 
TIVE TO   THE  MUSEUMS   AT   PARIS         .  .    2ig 
IV. — ON  THE  DISPATCH  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  WELLING- 
TON  RELATIVE   TO   THE   SAME   SUBJECT         .    225 
V. — ON  A  NOTE  OF  LORD   CASTLEREAGH   RELATIVE 

TO   THE  FRENCH   SLAVE  TRADE   .           .           .   22g 
VI. — ON  DISPATCHES  OF  THE   MARQUIS  WELLESLEY 
RELATIVE   TO    THE    STATE    OF    IRELAND    IN 
1822 234 

INDEX .247 


TO 

MR.  JAMES  PAUL  COBBETT. 


LETTER   I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

North  Hempstead,  Long  Island,*  Dec.  6th,  1817. 
My  dear  Little  James  : 

You  have  now  arrived  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years 
without  ever  having  been  bidden,  or  even  advised,  to  look 
into  a  book  ;  and  all  you  know  of  reading  or  of  writing 
you  owe  to  your  own  unbiassed  taste  and  choice.f  But, 
while  you  have  lived  unpersecuted  by  such  importunities, 
you  have  had  the  very  great  advantage  of  being  bred  up 
under  a  roof  beneath  which  no  cards,  no  dice,  no  gaming, 
no  senseless  pastime  of  any  description,  ever  found  a  place. 
In  the  absence  of  these,  books  naturally  became  your  com- 
panions during  some  part  of  your  time  :  you  have  read  and 
have  written,  because  you  saw  your  elders  read  and  write, 

*  In  March,  1817,  Cobbett,  influenced  by  political  reasons,  fled  from 
England  to  the  United  States,  where  some  fifteen  years  previously  he 
had  spent  five  or  six  years.  He  took  up  his  residence  in  Long  Island, 
and  there  his  English  Grammar  was  written. 

+  A  very  interesting  account  is  given  by  Cobbett  of  the  method  pur- 
sued by  him  in  the  education  of  his  children  in  the  fifth  letter — "  To 
a  Father" — of  his  "  Advice  to  Young  Men." 


14  INTRODUCTION.  [letter 

just  as  you  have  learned  to  ride,  and  hunt,  and  shoot,  to  dig 
the  beds  in  the  garden,  to  trim  the  flowers,  and  to  prune 
the  trees.  The  healthful  exercise,  and  the  pleasures,  un- 
mixed with  fear,  which  [that]  you  have  derived  from  those 
sources,  have  given  you  "  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body," 
and  this,  says  an  English  writer,  whose  works  you  will  by- 
and-by  read,  "  is  the  greatest  blessing  that  God  can  give  to 
man." 

It  is  true  that  this  is  a  very  great  blessing  ;  but  mere 
soundness  of  mind,  without  any  mental  acquirements,  is 
possessed  by  millions  ;  it  is  an  ordinary  possession,  and  it 
gives  a  man  no  fair  pretensions  to  merit,  because  he  owes  it 
to  accident,  and  not  to  anything  done  by  himself.  But 
knowledge,  in  any  art  or  science,  being  always  the  fruit  of 
observation,  study,  or  practice,  gives,  in  proportion  to  its 
extent  and  usefulness,  the  possessor  a  just  claim  to  respect. 
We  do,  indeed,  often  see  all  the  outward  marks  of  rtspect 
bestowed  upon  persons  merely  because  they  are  rich  or 
powerful ;  but  these,  while  they  are  bestowed  with  pain, 
are  received  without  pleasure.  They  drop  from  the  tnngue 
or  beam  from  the  features,  but  have  no  communication  with 
the  heart.  They  are  not  the  voluntary  offerings  of  admira- 
tion, or  of  gratitude  ;  but  are  extorted  from  the  hopes,  the 
fears,  the  anxieties,  of  poverty,  of  meanness,  or  of  guilt. 
Nor  is  respect  due  to  honesty,  fidelity,  or  any  such  quali- 
ties ;  because  dishonesty  and  perfidy  are  crimes.  To  enti- 
tle a  man  to  respect,  there  must  be  something  of  his  own 
doing,  beyond  the  bounds  of  his  well-known  duties  and 
obligations. 

Therefore,  being  extremely  desirous  to  see  you,  my  dear 
James,  an  object  of  respect,  I  now  call  upon  you  to  apply 
your  mind  to  the  acquiring  of  that  kind  of  knowledge  which 
[that]  is  inseparable  from  an  acquaintance  with  books  ;  for, 


I.]  INTRODUCTION.  15 

though  knowledge  in  every  art  and  science  is,  if  properly 
applied,  worthy  of  praise  in  proportion  to  its  extent  and 
usefulness,  there  are  some  kinds  of  knowledge  which  [that] 
are  justly  considered  as  of  a  superior  order,  not  only  be- 
cause the  possession  of  them  is  a  proof  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary industry  and  talent,  but  because  the  application  of 
them  has  naturally  a  more  powerful  influence  in  the  affairs 
and  on  the  condition  of  our  friends,  acquaintances,  neigh- 
bors, and  country.  Blake,  the  Titchfield  thatcher  who 
[that]  broke  his  leg  into  splinters  in  falling  from  a  wheat- 
rick,  was,  on  account  of  the  knowledge  which  [that]  he 
possessed,  beyond  that  of  laborers  in  general,  an  object  of 
respect  ;  but,  in  its  degree,  and  in  the  feelings  from  which 
it  arose,  how  different  was  that  respect  from  the  respect 
due  to  our  excellent  neighbor,  Mr.  Blundell,  who  re- 
stored the  leg  to  perfect  use,  after  six  garrison  and  army 
surgeons  had  declared  that  it  was  impossible  to  preserve  it, 
and  that,  if  the  leg  were  not  cut  off,  the  man  must  die 
within  twenty-four  hours  !  It  is  probable  that  the  time  of 
Mr.  Blundell  was  not,  on  this  occasion,  occupied  more, 
altogether,  than  four  days  and  four  nights  ;  yet,  the  effect 
was  a  great  benefit  to  be  enjoyed  by  Blake  for  probably 
thirty  or  forty  years  to  come  :  and,  while  we  must  see  that 
this  benefit  would  necessarily  extend  itself  to  the  whole  of 
his  numerous  family,  we  must  not  overlook  those  feelings 
of  pleasure  which  [that]  the  cure  would  naturally  produce 
amongst  friends,  acquaintances,  and  neighbors. 

The  respect  due  to  the  profession  of  the  surgeon  or 
physician  is,  however,  of  an  order  inferior  to  that  which 
[that]  is  due  to  the  profession  of  the  law  ;  for  whether  in 
the  character  of  Counsellor  or  of  Judge,  here  are  required, 
not  only  uncommon  industry,  labor,  and  talent,  in  the  ac« 
quirement  of  knowledge  ;  but  the  application  of  this  knowl« 


1 6  INTRODUCTION.  [letter 

edge,  in  defending  the  property  of  the  feeble  or  incautious 
against  the  attacks  of  the  strong  and  the  wiles  of  the  crafty  ; 
in  affording  protection  to  innocence,  and  securing  punish- 
ment to  guilt :  has,  in  the  affairs  of  men  and  on  their  con- 
dition in  life,  a  much  more  extensive  and  more  powerful 
influence  than  can  possibly  arise  from  the  application  of 
Surgical  or  Medical  knowledge. 

To  the  functions  of  Statesmen  and  Legislators  is  due 
the  highest  respect  which  [that]  can  be  shown  by  man  to 
anything  human  ;  for,  not  only  are  the  industry,  labor,  and 
talent,  requisite  in  the  acquirement  of  knowledge,  still 
greater  and  far  greater  here,  than  in  the  profession  of  the 
Law  ;  but,  of  the  application  of  this  knowledge,  the  effects 
are  so  transcendent  in  point  of  magnitude  as  to  place  them 
beyond  all  the  bounds  of  comparison.  Here  it  is  not  indi- 
vidual persons  with  their  families,  friends,  and  neighbors, 
that  are  affected  ;  but  whole  countries  and  communities. 
Here  the  matters  to  be  discussed  and  decided  on  are  peace 
or  war,  and  the  liberty  or  slavery,  happiness  or  misery,  of 
nations.  Here  a  single  instance  of  neglect,  a  single  over- 
sight, a  single  error,  may  load  with  calamity  millions  of 
men,  and  entail  that  calamity  on  a  long  series  of  future 
generations. 

But,  my  dear  James,  you  will  always  bear  in  mind  that, 
as  the  degree  and  quality  of  our  respect  rise  in  proportion 
to  the  influence  which  [that]  the  different  branches  of 
knowledge  naturally  have  in  the  affairs  and  on  the  condi- 
tion of  men,  so,  in  the  cases  of  an  imperfection  in  knowl- 
edge, or  of  neglect  in  its  application,  or  of  its  perversion  to 
bad  purposes,  all  the  feelings  which  [that]  are  opposite  to 
that  of  respect  rise  in  the  same  proportion.  To  ignorant 
pretenders  to  Surgery  and  Medicine  we  award  our  contempt 
and  scorn  ;    on    time-serving  or  treacherous  Counsellors, 


i .  ]  IN  TROD  UC  TION.  1 7 

and  on  cruel  or  partial  Judges,  we  inflict  our  detestation 
and  abhorrence  ;  while,  on  rapacious,  corrupt,  perfidious, 
or  tyrannical  Statesmen  and  Legislators,  the  voice  of  human 
nature  cries  aloud  for  execration  and  vengeance. 

The  particular  path  of  knowledge  to  be  pursued  by  you, 
will  be  of  your  own  choosing  ;  but,  as  to  knowledge  con- 
nected with  books,  there  is  a  step  to  be  taken  before  you 
can  fairly  enter  upon  any  path.  In  the  immense  field  of 
this  kind  of  knowledge,  innumerable  are  the  paths,  and 
Grammar  is  the  gate  of  entrance  to  them  all.  And  if 
Grammar  is  so  useful  in  the  attaining  of  knowledge,  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  enable  the  possessor  to 
communicate,  by  writing,  that  knowledge  to  others,  without 
which  communication  the  possession  must  be  comparatively 
useless  to  himself  in  many  cases,  and,  in  almost  all  cases, 
to  the  rest  of  mankind. 

The  actions  of  men  proceed  from  their  thoughts.  In 
order  to  obtain  the  co-operation,  the  concurrence,  or  the 
consent  of  others,  we  must  communicate  our  thoughts  to 
them.  The  means  of  this  communication  are  words ;  and 
Grammar  teaches  us  how  to  make  use  of  words.  Therefore, 
in  all  the  ranks,  degrees,  and  situations  of  life,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  principles  and  rules  of  Grammar  must  be  use- 
ful ;  in  some  situations  it  must  be  necessary  to  the  avoid- 
ing of  really  injurious  errors  ;  and  in  no  situation  which 
[that]  calls  on  man  to  place  his  thoughts  upon  paper,  can 
the  possession  of  it  fail  to  be  a  source  of  self-gratulation 
or  the  want  of  it  a  cause  of  mortification  and  sorrow. 

But,  to  the  acquiring  of  this  branch  of  knowledge,  my 
dear  son,  there  is  one  motive  which  [that],  though  it  ought, 
at  all  times,  to  be  strongly  felt,  ought,  at  the  present  time, 
to  be  so  felt  in  an  extraordinary  degree  :  I  mean  thai  da- 
sire  which  [that}  every  man,  and  especially  every  young 


1 8  INTRODUCTION.  |_letter 

man,  should  entertain  to  be  able  to  assert  with  effect  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  his  country.  When  you  come  to 
read  the  history  of  those  Laws  of  England  by  which  the 
freedom  of  the  people  has  been  secured,  and  by  which  the 
happiness,  and  power,  and  glory  of  our  famed  and  beloved 
country  have  been  so  greatly  promoted  ;  when  you  come  to 
read  the  history  of  the  struggles  of  our  forefathers,  by 
which  those  sacred  laws  have,  from  time  to  time,  been  de- 
fended against  despotic  ambition  ;  by  which  they  have  been 
restored  to  vigor  when  on  the  eve  of  perishing  ;  by  which 
their  violators  have  never  failed,  in  the  end,  to  be  made  to 
feel  the  just  vengeance  of  the  People  ;  when  you  come  to 
read  the  history  of  these  struggles  in  the  cause  of  freedom, 
you  will  find  that  tyranny  has  no  enemy  so  formidable  as 
the  pen.  And,  while  you  will  see  with  exultation  the 
long-imprisoned,  the  heavily-fined,  the  banished  William 
Prynne,  returning  to  liberty,  borne  by  the  people  from 
Southampton  to  London,  over  a  road  strewed  with  flowers  ; 
then  accusing,  bringing  to  trial,  and  to  the  block,  the  ty- 
rants from  whose  hands  he  and  his  country  had  unjustly 
and  cruelly  suffered  ;  while  your  heart  and  the  heart  of 
every  young  man  in  the  kingdom  will  bound  with  joy  at 
the  spectacle,  you  ought  all  to  bear  in  mind  that,  without  a 
knowledge  of  Grami?iar,  Mr.  Prynne  could  never  have 
performed  any  of  those  acts  by  which  his  name  has  been 
thus  preserved,  and  which  [that]  have  caused  his  memory 
to  be  held  in  honor. 

Though  I  have  now  said  what,  I  am  sure,  will  be  more 
than  sufficient  to  make  you  entertain  a  strong  desire  to  take 
this  first  step  in  the  road  to  literary  knowledge,  I  cannot 
conclude  this  introductory  letter  without  observing,  that 
you  ought  to  proceed  in  your  study,  not  only  with  diligence, 
but  with  patience ;  that,  if  you  meet  with  difficulties,  you 


L]  INTRODUCTION.  1 9 

should  bear  in  mind  that,  to  enjoy  the  noble  prospect  from 
Port's-Down  Hill,  you  had  first  to  climb  slowly  to  the  top ; 
and  that,  if  those  difficulties  gather  about  you  and  impede 
your  way,  you  have  only  to  call  to  your  recollection  any 
one  of  the  many  days  that  you  have  toiled  through  briers 
and  brambles  and  bogs,  cheered  and  urged  on  by  the  hope 
of  at  last  finding  and  killing  your  game. 

I  have  put  my  work  into  the  form  of  Letters,  in  order 
that  I  might  be  continually  reminded  that  I  was  addressing 
myself  to  persons  who  [that]  needed  to  be  spoken  to  with 
great  clearness.  I  have  numbered  the  Letters  themselves, 
and  also  the  paragraphs,  in  order  that  I  might  be  able,  in 
some  parts  of  the  work,  to  refer  you  to,  or  [to]  tell  you 
where  to  look  at,  other  parts  of  the  work.  And  here  I  will 
just  add,  that  a  sentence,  used  as  a  term  in  Grammar,  means 
one  of  those  portions  of  words  which  [that]  are  divided  from 
the  rest  by  a  single  dot,  which  is  called  a  period,  or  full 
point ;  and  that  a  paragraph  means  one  of  those  collections, 
or  blocks,  of  sentences  which  [that]  are  divided  from  the 
rest  of  the  work  by  beginning  a  new  line  a.  little  further  in 
than  the  lines  in  general ;  and,  of  course,  all  this  part,  which 
[that]  I  have  just  now  written,  beginning  with  "  I  have  put 
my  work  into  the  form"  is  a  paragraph. 

In  a  confident  reliance  on  your  attentiveness,  industry, 
and  patience,  I  have  a  hope  not  less  confident  of  seeing  you 
a  man  of  real  learning,  employing  your  time  and  talents  in 
aiding  the  cause  of  truth  and  justice,  in  affording  protection 
to  defenseless  innocence,  and  in  drawing  down  vengeance 
on  lawless  oppression  ;  and,  in  that  hope,  I  am  your  happy, 
as  well  as  affectionate,  father, 

William  Cobbett- 


20  DEFINITION  OF  [letter 

LETTER   II. 

definition  of  grammar,  and  of  its  different 
branches,  or  parts. 

My  dear  James: 

1.  In  the  foregoing  Letter  I  have  laid  before  you  some 
of  the  inducements  to  the  study  of  Grammar.  In  this  I 
will  define,  or  describe,  the  thing  called  Grammar ;  and 
also  its  different  B?'anches,  or  Farts. 

2.  Grammar,  as  I  observed  to  you  before,  teaches  us 
how  to  make  use  of  words ;  that  is  to  say,  it  teaches  us  how 
to  make  use  of  them  in  a  proper  manner,  as  I  used  to  teach 
you  how  to  sow  and  plant  the  beds  in  the  garden  ;  for  you 
could  have  throwed  [thrown]  about  seeds  and  stuck  in 
plants  of  some  sort  or  other,  in  some  way  or  other,  without 
any  teaching  of  mine  ;  and  so  can  anybody,  without  rules 
or  instructions,  put  masses  of  words  upon  paper  ;  but  to  be 
able  to  choose  the  words  which  [that]  ought  to  [should]  be 
employed,  and  to  place  them  where  they  ought  to  [should]  be 
placed,  we  must  become  acquainted  with  certain  principles 
and  rules  ;  and  these  principles  and  rules  constitute  what  is 
called  Grammar. 

3.  Nor  must  you  suppose,  by-and-by,  when  you  come 
to  read  about  Nouns  and  Verbs  and  Pronouns^  that  all  this 
tends  to  nothing  but  mere  ornamental  learning  ;  that  it  is 
not  altogether  necessary,  and  that  people  may  write  to  be 
understood  very  well  without  it.  This  is  not  the  case  ;  for, 
without  a  good  deal  of  knowledge  relative  to  these  same 
Nouns  and  Verbs,  those  who  [that]  write  are  never  sure 
that  they  put  upon  paper  what  they  mean  to  put  upon 
paper.  I  will,  before  the  close  of  these  Letters,  show  you 
that  even  very  learned  men  have  frequently  written,  and 
caused  to  be  published,  not  only  what  they  did  not  mean, 


fi.]        GRAMMAR  AND  ITS  BRANCHES.        21 

but  the  very  contrary  of  what  they  meaned  [meant]  ;  and  if 
errors,  such  as  are  here  spoken  of,  are  sometimes  committed 
by  learned  men,  into  what  endless  errors  must  those  fall 
who  [that]  have  no  knowledge  of  any  principles  or  rules, 
by  the  observance  of  which  the  like  may  be  avoided ! 
Grammar,  perfectly  understood,  enables  us  not  only  to  ex- 
press our  meaning  fully  and  clearly,  but  so  to  express  it  as 
to  enable  us  to  defy  the  ingenuity  of  man  to  give  to  our 
words  any  other  meaning  than  that  which  [that]  we  our- 
selves intend  them  to  express.  This,  therefore,  is  a  science 
of  substantial  utility. 

4.  As  to  the  different  Branches  or  Parts  of  Grammar, 
they  are  four ;  and  they  are  thus  named  :  Orthography, 
Prosody,  Etymology,  and  Syntax. 

5.  There  are  two  of  these  branches  on  which  we  have 
very  little  to  say,  and  the  names  of  which  have  been  kept 
in  use  from  an  unwillingness  to  give  up  the  practice  of 
former  times ;  but,  as  it  is  usual  to  give  them  a  place  in 
books  of  this  kind,  I  will  explain  to  you  the  nature  of  all 
the  four  branches. 

6.  ORTHOGRAPHY  is  a  word  made  up  of  two  Greek 
words,  which  [that]  mean  spelling.  The  use  of  foreign 
words,  in  this  manner,  was  introduced  at  the  time  when  the 
English  Language  was  in  a  very  barbarous  state  ;  and, 
though  this  use  has  been  continued,  it  ought  to  be  a  rule 
with  you,  always,  when  you  either  write  or  speak,  to  avoid 
the  use  of  any  foreign  or  uncommon  word,  if  you  can  ex- 
press your  meaning  as  fully  and  [as]  clearly  by  [with]  an 
English  word  in  common  use.  However,  Orthography 
means  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  very  humble  business 
of  putting  Letters  together  properly,  so  that  they  shall  [will] 
form  Words.  This  is  so  very  childish  a  concern  that  I  will 
[shall  ?]  not  appear  to  suppose  it  necessary  for  me  to  dwell 


22  DEFINITION  OF  [letter 

upon  it :  but  as  you  will,  by-and-by,  meet  with  some  direc- 
tions,  under  the  head  of  Etymology,  in  which  Vowels  and 
Consonants  will  be  spoken  of,  I  will  here,  for  form's  sake, 
just  observe  that  the  letters,  A,  E,  1,0,  and  U,  are  Vowels, 
Y,  in  certain  cases,  is  also  a  Vowel.  All  the  rest  of  the 
letters  of  the  alphabet  are  Consonants. 

7.  PROSODY  is  a  word  taken  from  the  Greek  Lan- 
guage, and  it  means  not  so  much  as  is  expressed  by  the 
more  common  word  Pronunciation  ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
business  of  using  the  proper  sound,  and  employing  the  due 
length  of  time,  in  the  uttering  of  syllables  and  words.  This 
is  a  matter,  however,  which  [that]  ought  not  to  [should  not] 
occupy  much  of  your  attention,  because  pronunciation  is 
learned  as  birds  learn  to  chirp  and  sing.  In  some  counties 
of  England  many  words  are  pronounced  in  a  manner  differ- 
ent from  that  in  which  they  are  pronounced  in  other  coun- 
ties ;  and,  between  the  pronunciation  of  Scotland  and  that 
of  Hampshire  the  difference  is  very  great  indeed.  But, 
while  all  inquiries  into  the  causes  of  these  differences  are 
useless,  and  ah  attempts  to  remove  them  are  vain,  the  dif- 
ferences are  of  very  little  real  consequence.  For  instance, 
though  the  Scotch  say  coorn,  the  Londoners  cawn,  and  the 
Hampshire  folks  cam,  we  know  they  all  mean  to  say  corn. 
Children  will  pronounce  as  their  fathers  and  mothers  pro- 
nounce ;  and  if,  in  common  conversation,  or  in  speeches, 
the  matter  be  good  and  judiciously  arranged,  the  facts  clear- 
ly stated,  the  arguments  conclusive,  the  words  well  chosen 
and  properly  placed,  hearers  whose  approbation  is  worth 
having  will  pay  very  little  attention  to  the  accent.  In  short, 
it  is  sense,  and  not  sound,  which  [that]  is  the  object  of  your 
pursuit  ;  and,  therefore,  I  have  said  enough  about  Prosody. 

8.  ETYMOLOGY  is  a  very  different  matter  ;  and,  un- 
der this  head,  you  will  enter  on  your  study.    This  is  a  word 


II.]         GRAMMAR  AND  ITS  BRANCHES.        2$ 

which  [that]  has  been  formed  out  of  two  Greek  words  ;  and 
it  means  the  pedigree  or  relationship  of  words,  or,  the  man- 
ner in  which  one  word  grows  out  of,  or  comes  from,  another 
word.  For  instance,  the  word  walk  expresses  an  action,  or 
movement,  of  our  legs  ;  but,  in  some  cases  we  say  walks,  in 
others  walked,  in  others  walking.  These  three  latter  words 
are  all  different  from  each  other,  and  they  all  differ  from  the 
original  word,  walk ;  but  the  action  or  movement,  ex- 
pressed by  each  of  the  four,  is  precisely  the  same  sort  of 
action  or  movement,  and  the  three  latter  words  grow  out 
of,  or  come  from,  the  first.  The  words  here  mentioned 
differ  from  each  other  [one  another]  with  regard  to  the  let- 
ters of  which  they  are  composed.  The  difference  is  made 
in  order  to  express  differences  as  to  the  Persons  who  [that] 
walk,  as  to  the  Number  of  persons,  as  to  the  Time  of  walk- 
ing. You  will  come,  by-and-by,  to  the  principles  and  rules 
according  to  which  the  varying  of  the  spelling  of  words  is 
made  to  correspond  with  these  and  other  differences  ;  and 
these  principles  and  rules  constitute  what  is  called  Etymology. 
9.  SYNTAX  is  a  word  which  [that]  comes  from  the 
Greek.  It  means,  in  that  language,  the  joining  of  several 
things  together ;  and,  as  used  by  grammarians,  it  means 
those  principles  and  rules  which  [that]  teach  us  how  to  put 
words  together  so  as  to  form  sentences.  It  means,  in  short, 
sentence-making.  Having  been  taught  by  the  rules  of  Ety- 
mology what  are  the  relationships  of  words,  how  words  grow 
out  of  each  other  [one  another],  how  they  are  varied  in  their 
letters  in  order  to  correspond  with  the  variation  in  the  cir- 
cumstances to  which  they  apply,  Syntax  will  teach  you  how" 
to  give  all  your  words  their  proper  situations  or  places,  when 
you  come  to  put  them  together  into  sentences.  And  here 
you  will  have  to  do  with  points  as  well  as  with  words.  The 
points  are  four  in  number,  the  Comma,  the  Semi-Colon^  the 


24  DEFINITION  OF  GRAMMAR,   ETC.  [letter 

Colon,  and  the  Paioa.  Besides  these  points,  there  are  cer- 
tain marks,  such  as  the  mark  of  interrogation,  for  instance  ; 
and,  to  use  these  points  and  marks  properly  is,  as  you  will 
by-and-by  find,  a  matter  of  very  great  importance. 

10.  I  have  now  given  you  a  description  of  Grammar, 
and  of  its  separate  Branches  or  Parts.  I  have  shown 
you  that  the  two  first  of  these  Branches  may  be  dismissed 
without  any  further  notice  ;  but,  very  different  indeed  is  the 
case  with  regard  to  the  two  latter.  Each  of  these  will  re- 
quire several  Letters  ;  and  those  Letters  will  contain  mat- 
ter which  [that]  it  will  be  impossible  to  understand  without 
the  greatest  attention.  You  must  read  soberly  and  slowly, 
and  you  must  think  as  you  read.  You  must  not  hurry  on 
from  one  Letter  to  another,  as  if  you  were  reading  a  his- 
tory ;  but  you  must  have  patience  to  get,  if  possible,  at  a 
clear  comprehension  of  one  part  of  the  subject  before  you 
proceed  to  another  part.  When  I  was  studying  the  French 
language,  the  manner  in  which  I  proceeded  was  this  :  when 
I  had  attentively  read  over,  three  times,  a  lesson,  or  other 
division  of  my  Grammar,  I  wrote  the  lesson  down  upon  a 
loose  sheet  of  paper.  Then  I  read  it  again  several  times  in 
my  own  hand-writing.  Then  I  copied  it,  in  a  very  plain 
hand,  and  without  a  blot,  into  a  book,  which  [that]  I  had 
made  for  the  purpose.  But  if,  in  writing  my  lesson  down 
on  a  loose  sheet  of  paper,  I  committed  one  single  error, 
however  trifling,  I  used  to  tear  the  paper,  and  write  the 
whole  down  again ;  and,  frequently,  this  occurred  three  01 
four  times  in  the  writing  down  of  one  lesson.  I,  at  first, 
found  this  labor  very  irksome  ;  but,  having  imposed  it  on 
myself  as  a  duty,  I  faithfully  discharged  that  duty  ;  and, 
long  before  I  had  proceeded  half  the  way  through  my 
Grammar,  I  experienced  all  the  benefits  of  my  industry  and 
oerseverance. 


III.  j  E  T  YMOL  OGY.  25 

LETTER   III. 

ETYMOLOGY. 

The  different  Parts  of  Speech,  or  Sorts  of  Words, 

My  dear  James  : 

11.  In  the  second  Letter  I  have  given  you  a  descrip- 
tion of  Etymology,  and  shown  you  that  it  treats  of  the  pedi- 
gree, or  relationship,  of  words,  of  the  nature  of  which  rela- 
tionship I  have  given  you  a  specimen  in  the  word  walk. 
The  next  thing  is  to  teach  you  the  principles  and  rzdes,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  spelling  and  employing  of  words  are 
varied  in  order  to  express  the  various  circumstances  attend- 
ing this  relationship.  But,  before  I  enter  on  this  part  of 
my  instructions,  I  must  inform  you  that  there  are  several 
distinct  sorts  of  words,  or,  as  they  are  usually  called,  Parts 
of  Speech  ;  and  it  will  be  necessary  for  you  to  be  able,  be- 
fore you  proceed  further,  to  distinguish  the  words  belong- 
ing to  each  of  these  Parts  of  Speech  from  those  belonging 
to  the  other  parts.  There  are  Nine  Parts  of  Speech,  and 
they  are  named  thus  : 

ARTICLES,  NOUNS, 

PRONOUNS,  ADJECTIVES, 

VERBS,  ADVERBS, 

PREPOSITIONS,  CONJUNCTIONS 

INTERJECTIONS. 

12.  Before  the  sergeant  begins  to  teach  young  sol- 
diers their  exercise  of  the  musket,  he  explains  to  them  the 
different  parts  of  it ;  the  butt,  the  stock,  the  barrel,  the 
loops,  the  swivels,  and  so  on  ;  because,  unless  they  know 
these  by  their  names,  they  cannot  know  how  to  obey  his 
instructions  in  the  handling  of  the  musket.     Sailors,  for 


26  ETYMOLOGY.  [letter 

the  same  reason,  are  told  which  is  the  tiller,  which  are  the 
yards,  which  the  shrouds,  which  the  tacks,  which  the  sheets, 
which  the  booms,  and  which  each  and  every  part  of  the 
ship.  Apprentices  are  taught  the  names  of  all  the  tools 
used  in  their  trade  ;  and  plowboys  the  names  of  the  vari- 
ous implements  of  husbandly.  This  species  of  preliminary 
knowledge  is  absolutely  necessary  in  all  these  callings  of 
life  ;  but  not  more  necessary  than  it  is  for  you  to  learn,  be- 
fore you  go  any  further,  how  to  knoxv  the  sorts  of  words  one 
from  another.  To  teach  you  this,  therefore,  is  the  object 
of  the  present  Letter. 

13.  ARTICLES.  There  are  but  three  in  our  language  ; 
and  these  are,  the,  an,  and  a.  Indeed,  there  are  but  two, 
because  an  and  a  are  the  same  word,  the  latter  being  only 
an  abbreviation,  or  a  shortening,  of  the  former.  I  shall, 
by-dnd-by,  give  you  rules  for  the  using  of  these  Articles  ; 
but  my  business  in  this  place  is  only  to  teach  you  how  to 
know  one  sort  of  words  from  another  sort  of  words. 

14.  NOUNS.  The  word  Noun  means  name,  and  noth- 
ing more  ;  and  Nouns  are  the  names,  of  persons  and  things. 
As  far  as  persons  and  other  animals  and  things  that  we  can 
see  go,  it  is  very  easy  to  distinguish  Nouns  j  but  there  are 
many  Nouns  which  [that]  express  what  we  can  neither 
see,  nor  hear,  nor  touch.  For  example  :  Conscience,  Vanity, 
Vice,  Sobriety,  Steadiness,  Valor ;  and  a  great  number  of 
others.  Grammarians,  anxious  to  give  some  easy  rule  by 
which  the  scholar  might  [may]  distinguish  Nouns  from 
other  words,  have  directed  .him  to  put  the  words,  the  good, 
before  any  word,  and  have  told  him  that,  if  the  three  words 
make  sense,  the  last  word  is  a  AToun.  This  is  frequently 
the  case  ;  as,  the  good  house,  the  good  dog ;  but  the  good 
sobriety  would  [does]  not  appear  to  be  very  good  sense.  In 
fact  there  is  no  rule  of  this  kind  that  will  answer  the  pur- 


ill.]  PARTS   OF  SPEECH.  27 

pose.     You  must  employ  your  mind  in  order  to  arrive  at 
the  knowledge  here  desired. 

15.  Every  word  which  [that]  stands  for  a  person  or 
[for]  any  animal,  or  for  any  thing  of  substance,  dead  or 
alive,  is  a  Noun.  So  far  the  matter  is  very  easy.  Thus, 
man,  cat,  tree,  log,  are  Nouns.  But,  when  we  come  to  the 
words  which  [that]  are  the  names  of  things,  and  which 
things  are  not  substances,  the  matter  is  not  so  easy,  and  it 
requires  a  little  sober  thought.  This  word  thought,  for  ex- 
ample, is  a  Noun. 

1 6.  The  only  sure  rule  is  this  :  that  a  word  which 
[that]  stands  for  any  thing  that  has  an  existence  is  a  Noun. 
For  example  :  Pride,  Folly,  Thought,  Misery,  Truth,  False- 
hood, Opinion,  Sentiment.  None  of  these  have  any  sub- 
stance. You  can  not  see  them,  or  [nor]  touch  them  ;  but 
they  all  have  an  existence.  They  all  exist  in  the  world  ; 
and,  therefore  the  words  which  [that]  represent  them,  or 
stand  for  them,  are  called  Nouns.  If  you  be  [are]  still  a 
little  puzzled  here,  you  must  not  be  impatient.  You  will 
find  the  difficulty  disappear  in  a  short  time,  if  you  exert 
your  powers  of  thinking.  Ask  yourself  what  existence 
means.  You  will  find  that  the  words,  very,  for,  think, 
but,  pretty,  do  not  express  any  thing  which  [that]  has  an 
existence,  or  a  being ;  but  that  the  words,  motive,  zeal,  pity, 
kindness,  do  express  things  which  [that]  have  a  being,  or 
existence. 

17.  PRONOUNS.  Words  of  this  sort  stand  in  the 
place  of  Nouns.  Their  name  is  from  the  Latin,  and  it 
means  For-nouns,  or  ForMames  ;  that  is  to  say,  these  words, 
called  Pronouns,  are  used  for,  or  instead  of,  Nouns.  He, 
She,  Her,  Him,  Who,  for  example,  are  Pronouns.  The  use 
<)f  them  is  to  prevent  tne  repetition  of  Nouns,  and  to  make 
speaking  and  writing  more  rapid  and  less  encumbered  with 


28  ETYMOLOGY.  [lettep 

words,     An  example  will  make  this  clear  to  you  in  a  min. 
ute.     Thus : 

18.  A  woman  went  to  a  man,  and  told  him  that  he 
was  in  great  danger  of  being  murdered  by  a  gang  of  rob- 
bers, who  [that]  had  made  preparations  for  attacking  him, 
He  thanked  her  for  her  kindness,  and,  as  he  was  unable  to 
defend  himself,  he  left  his  house  and  went  to  a  neigh- 
bor's. 

19.  Now,  if  there  were  no  Pronouns,  this  sentence 
must  [would  have  to]  be  written  as  follows  :  A  woman 
went  to  a  man,  and  told  the  man,  that  the  man  was  in  great 
danger  of  being  murdered  by  a  gang  of  robbers  ;  as  a  gang 
of  robbers  had  made  preparations  for  attacking  the  man. 
The  man  thanked  the  -woman  for  the  woman's  kindness  ; 
and,  as  the  man  was  unable  to  defend  the  mans  self,  the 
man  left  the  mans  house  and  went  to  a  neighbor's. 

20.  There  are  several  different  classes  of  Pronouns ; 
but  of  this,  and  of  the  manner  of  using  Pronouns,  you  will 
be  informed  by-and-by.  All  that  I  aim  at  here  is  to  enable 
you  to  form  a  clear  idea  with  regard  to  the  difference  in  the 
sorts  of  words,  or  Parts  of  Speech. 

21.  ADJECTIVES.  The  word  Adjective,  in  its  full 
literal  sense,  means  something  added  to  something  else. 
Therefore  this  term  is  used  in  Grammar  as  the  name  of  that 
Part  of  Speech  which  [that]  consists  of  words  which  [that] 
are  added,  or  put,  to  Nouns,  in  order  to  express  something 
relating  to  the  Nouns,  which  something  could  not  be  ex- 
pressed without  the  help  of  Adjectives.  For  instance,  there 
are  several  turkeys  in  the  yard,  some  black,  some  white, 
some  speckled  ;  and,  then,  there  are  large  ones  and  small 
ones  of  all  the  colors.  I  want  you  to  go  and  catch  a  tur- 
key ;  but  I  also  want  you  to  catch  a  white  turkey,  and  not 
only  a  white  turkey,  but  a  large  turkey.     Therefore,  I  add, 


III.]  PARTS  OF  SPEECH.  29 

ox  put  to  the  Noun,  the  words  white  and  large,  which,  there, 
fore,  are  called  Adjectives. 

22.  Adjectives  sometimes  express  the  qualities  of  the 
Nouns  to  which  they  are  put ;  and  this  being  very  fre- 
quently their  use,  some  grammarians  have  thrown  aside  the 
word  Adjectives,  and  have  called  words  of  this  sort,  Quali- 
ties. But,  this  name  is  not  sufficiently  comprehensive  ;  for 
there  are  many  words  which  [that]  are  Adjectives  which 
[that]  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  quality  of  the  Nouns  to 
which  they  are  put.  Good  and  bad  express  qualities,  but  long 
and  short  merely  express  dimension,  or  duration,  without  giv- 
ing any  intimation  as  to  the  quality  of  the  things  expressed 
by  the  Nouns  to  which  they  are  put ;  and  yet  long  and  short 
are  Adjectives.  You  must  read  very  attentively  here,  and 
consider  soberly.  You  must  keep  in  mind  the  above  ex- 
planation of  the  meaning  of  the  word  Adjective  ;  and  if 
you  also  bear  in  mind  that  words  of  this  sort  always  ex- 
press some  quality,  some  property,  some  appearance,  or 
some  distinctive  circumstance,  belonging  to  the  Nouns  to 
which  they  are  put,  you  will  very  easily,  and  in  a  very  short 
space  of  time,  be  able  to  distinguish  an  Adjective  frorr 
words  belonging  to  any  other  Part  of  Speech. 

23.  VERBS.  Grammarians  appear  to  have  been  at  a 
loss  to  discover  a  suitable  appellation  for  this  important 
sort  of  words,  or  Part  of  Speech  ;  for,  the  word  Verb  means 
nothing  more  than  Word.  In  the  Latin  it  is  verbum,  in 
the  French  it  is  verbe;  and  the  French,  in  their  Bible,  say 
Le  Verbe,  where  we  say  The  Word.  The  truth  is  that 
there  are  so  many  properties  and  circumstances,  so  many 
and  such  different  powers  and  functions,  belonging  to  this 
Part  of  Speech,  that  the  mind  of  man  is  unable  to  bring 
the  whole  of  them  into  any  short  and  precise  description. 
The  first  grammar  that  I  ever  looked  into  told  me  that  "a 


30  E  T  Y MO  LOG  Y.  [letter 

Verb  is  a  word  which  [that]  signifies  to  do,  to  be,  or  to  suf- 
fer!'    What  was  I  to  understand  from  this  laconic  account  ? 

24.  Verbs  express  all  the  different  actions  and  move- 
ments of  all  creatures  and  of  all  things,  whether  alive  or 
dead.  As,  for  instance,  to  speak,  to  bark,  to  grow,  to  moldert 
to  crack,  to  crumble,  and  the  like.  In  all  these  cases  there 
is  movement  clearly  understood.  But  in  the  cases  of,  to 
think,  to  reflect,  to  remember,  to  like,  to  detest,  and  in  an  in- 
finite number  of  cases,  the  movement  is  not  so  easily  per- 
ceived. Yet  these  are  all  Verbs,  and  they  do  indeed  ex- 
press movements  which  [that]  we  attribute  to  the  mind,  or 
[to]  the  heart.  But  what  shall  we  say  in  the  cases  of  to 
sit,  to  sleep,  to  rot,  and  the  like  ?     Still  these  are  all  verbs. 

25.  Verbs  are,  then,  a  sort  of  words,  the  use  of  which 
is  to  express  the  actions,  the  move?nents,  and  the  state 
or  manner  of  being,  of  all  creatures  and  things,  whether 
animate  or  inanimate.  In  speaking  with  reference  to  a 
man,  to  fight  is  an  action  ;  to  reflect  is  a  movement ;  to  sit 
is  a  state  of  being. 

26.  Of  the  manner  of  using  Verbs  you  will  hear  a  great 
deal  by-and-by  ;  but,  what  I  have  here  said  will,  if  you 
read  attentively,  and  take  time  to  consider,  be  sufficient  to 
enable  you  to  distinguish  Verbs  from  the  words  which 
[that]  belong  to  the  other  Parts  of  Speech. 

27.  ADVERBS  are  so  called  because  the  words 
which  [that]  belong  to  this  Part  of  Speech  are  added  to 
verbs.  But  this  is  an  inadequate  description  ;  for,  as  you 
will  presently  see,  they  are  sometimes  otherwise  employed. 
You  have  seen  that  Verbs  express  actions,  movements,  and 
states  of  being ;  and  it  is  very  frequently  the  use  of  Adverbs 
to  express  the  manner  of  actions,  movements,  and  states  of 
being.  Thus:  the  man  fights  bravely;  he  reflects  pro- 
foundly; he  sits  quietly.     In  these  instances  the  Adverbs 


Hi.]  PARTS  OF  SPEECH.  3* 

perform  an  office,  and  are  placed  in  a  situation,  Which 
[that]  fully  justify  the  name  that  has  been  given  to  this  sort 
of  words.  But  there  are  many  Adverbs  which  [that]  do 
not  express  the  manner  of  actions,  movements,  or  states  of 
being,  and  which  [that]  are  not  added  to  verbs.  For  in- 
stance :  "  When  you  sow  small  seeds  make  the  earth  very 
fine,  and  if  it  have,  cf  late,  been  dry  weather,  take  care  to 
press  the  earth  extremely  hard  upon  the  seeds."  Here  are 
four  Adverbs,  but  only  the  last  of  the  four  expresses  any 
thing  connected  with  a  Verb.  This  shows  that  the  name 
of  this  class  of  words  does  not  fully  convey  to  our  minds  a 
description  of  their  use. 

28.  However,  with  this  name  you  must  be  content ; 
but,  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  there  are  Adverbs  of  time, 
of  place,  and  of  degree,  as  well  as  of  manner  ;  and  that  their 
business  is  to  express,  or  describe,  some  circumstances  in 
addition  to  all  that  is  expressed  by  the  Nouns,  Adjectives, 
and  Verbs.  In  the  above  sentence,  for  example,  the  words 
when,  very,  of  late,  and  extremely,  add  greatly  to  the  pre- 
cept, which,  without  them,  would  lose  much  of  its  force. 

29.  PREPOSITIONS.  The  prepositions  are  in,  to, 
for,  from,  of,  by,  with,  into,  against,  at,  and  several  others. 
They  are  called  Prepositions  from  two  Latin  words,  mean- 
ing before  and  place  ;  and  this  name  is  given  them  because 
they  are  in  most  cases  placed  before  Nouns  and  Pronouns  : 
as,  "  Indian  corn  is  sown  in  May.  In  June,  and  the  three 
following  months,  it  is  carefully  cultivated.  When  ripe,  in 
October,  it  is  gathered  in  the  field,  by  men  who  [that]  go 
from  hill  to  hill  with  baskets,  into  which  they  put  the  ears. 
The  leaves  and  stalks  are  then  collected  for  winter  use  ; 
and  they  not  only  serve  as  food  for  cattle  and  sheep,  but 
are  excellent  in  the  making  of  sheds  to  protect  animals 
against  the  inclemency  of  the  weather." 


32  E  T  YMOLOG  Y  [lettef 

30.  Prepositions  are  not  very  numerous,  and,  thougti 
you  will  be  taught  to  be  very  careful  in  using  them,  the 
above  sentence  will  be  quite  sufficient  to  enable  you  tc 
know  the  words  belonging  to  this  Part  of  Speech  from  the 
words  belonging  to  any  oiher  Part  of  Speech. 

31.  CONJUNCTIONS  are  so  called  because  they  con- 
join, or  join  together,  words,  or  parts  of  sentences  :  as,  "  Peas 
snd  Beans  may  be  severed  from  the  ground  before  they  be 
[are]  quite  dry  ;  but  they  must  not  be  put  into  sacks  or 
[nor]  barns  until  perfectly  dry,  for,  if  they  be  [are],  they 
will  mold."  The  word  and  joins  together  the  words  Peas 
and  Beans,  and,  by  the  means  of  this  junction,  makes  all 
the  remaining  part  of  the  sentence  apply  to  both.  The 
word  but  connects  the  first  with  the  second  members  of  the 
sentence.  The  word  for,  which  is  sometimes  a  Conjunc- 
tion, performs,  in  this  case,  the  same  office  as  the  word  but : 
it  continues  the  connection  ;  and  thus  does  every  part  of 
the  sentence  apply  to  each  of  the  two  nouns  which  [that] 
are  the  subject  of  it. 

32.  INTERJECTIONS.  This  name  comes  from  two 
Latin  words  :  inter,  which  means  between,  and  jectio,  which 
means  something  thrown.  So  that  the  full,  literal  meaning 
of  the  word  is  something  thrown  between.  The  Interjec- 
tions are  Ah!  Oh!  Alas!  and  such  like,  which,  indeed, 
are  not  words,  because  they  have  no  definite  meaning. 
They  are  mere  sounds,  and  they  have  been  mentioned  by 
me  merely  because  other  grammarians  have  considered 
them  as  being  a  Part  of  Speech.  But  this  one  notice  of 
them  will  be  quite  sufficient. 

33.  Thus,  then,  you  are  now  able  to  distinguish,  in 
many  cases  at  least,  to  what  Part  of  Speech  belongs  each  of 
the  several  words  which  [that]  may  come  under  your  obser- 
vation.    I  shall  now  proceed  to  the  Etymology  of  each  o\ 


w.j  OF  ARTICLES.  33 

these  Parts  of  Speech.  As  we  have  done  with  the  Interjec* 
tions,  there  will  remain  only  eight  Parts  to  treat  of,  and  this 
I  shall  do  in  eight  Letters,  allotting  one  Letter  to  each  Part 
of  Speech. 


LETTER   IV. 

ETYMOLOGY    OF   ARTICLES. 


My  dear  James  : 

34.  In  Letter  III,  paragraph  13,  you  have  seen  what 
sort  of  words  Articles  are  ;  that  is  to  say,  you  have  there 
learned  how  to  distinguish  the  words  belonging  to  this  Part 
of  Speech  from  words  belonging  to  other  Parts  of  Speech. 
You  must  now  turn  to  Letter  II,  paragraph  8.  Having 
read  what  you  find  there  under  the  head  of  Etymology,  you 
will  see  at  once,  that  my  business,  in  this  present  Letter,  is. 
to  teach  you  those  principles  and  rules  according  to  which 
Articles  are  varied  in  order  to  make  them  suit  the  different 
circumstances  which  [that]  they  are  used  to  express. 

35.  You  have  seen  that  there  are  but  three  Articles, 
namely,  A  or  AN,  and  THE.  The  two  former  are,  in  fact, 
the  same  word,  but  of  this  I  shall  say  more  presently.  They 
are  called  indefinite  Articles,  because  they  do  not  define,  01 
determine,  what  particular  object  is  spoken  of.  The  Nouns, 
to  which  they  are  prefixed,  only  serve  [serve  only]  to  point 
out  the  sort  of  person  or  thing  spoken  of,  without  defining 
what  person  or  what  thing  ;  as,  a  tree  is  bloived  [blown] 
down*    From  this  we  learn  that  some  tree  is  blowed  [blown] 

*  For  a  defense  of  the  use  of  this  form   of  the  past  participle  see 
paragraph  109.     In  the  use  of  language,  however,  we  must  go  with  th< 
stream,  a  fact  Mr.  Cobbett  seems  in  this  instance  to  have  overlooked. 
•z 


34  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

down,  but  not  what  tree.  But  the  definite  Article  THE 
determines  the  particular  object  of  which  we  speak  ;  as,  the 
tree  which  [that]  stood  close  beside  the  barn  is  blowed  [blown] 
down.  In  this  last  instance,  we  are  not  only  informed  that 
a  tree  is  blowed  [blown]  down,  but  the  sentence  also  informs 
us  what  particular  tree  it  is.  The  Article  is  used  before  nouns 
in  the  plural  as  well  as  before  nouns  in  the  singular  number. 
It  is  sometimes  used  before  words  expressive  of  degrees  of 
comparison  :  as,  the  best,  the  worst,  the  highest,  the  lowest. 
When  we  use  a  noun  in  the  singular  number  to  express  a 
whole  species  or  sort,  we  use  the  definite  Article  ;  thus, we  say, 
the  oak  is  a  fine  tree,  when  we  mean  that  oaks  are  fine  trees. 
36.  The  Article  A  becomes  AN  when  this  Article 
comes  immediately  before  any  word  which  [that]  begins 
with  a  vowel.  This  is  for  the  sake  of  the  sound,  as,  an  ad- 
der, an  elephant,  an  inch,  an  oily  seed,  an  ugly  hat.  The 
word  an  is  also  used  before  words  which  [that]  begin  with 
an  h  which  [that]  is  mute ;  that  is  to  say,  which  [that], 
though  used  in  writing,  is  not  sounded  in  speaking  :  as,  an 
hour.  This  little  variation  in  the  article  is,  as  I  said  be- 
fore, for  the  sake  of  the  sound ;  for,  it  would  be  very  disa- 
greeable to  say  a  adder,  a  elephant,  a  inch,  a  oily  seed,  a  ugly 
hat,  a  hour,  and  the  like.  But  a  is  used  in  the  usual  way 
before  words  which  [that]  begin  with  an  h  which  [that]  is 
sounded  in  speaking  ;  as,  a  horse,  a  hair,  and  the  like.  The 
indefinite  Article  can  be  used  before  nouns  in  the  singular 
number  only.  There  is  a  seeming  exception  to  this  rule  in 
cases  where  the  words  few  and  many  come  before  the  noun  . 
as,  a  few  horses  ;  a  great  matiy  horses  ;  but,  in  reality,  this 
is  not  an  exception,  because  the  words  few  and  many  mean 
number ;  thus,  a  small  number  of  horses,  a.  great  number  of 
horses  ;  and  the  indefinite  Article  agrees  with  this  word 
number,  which  is  understood,  and  which  is  in  the  singular. 


f.|  OF  NOUNS.  35 


LETTER   V. 

ETYMOLOGY    OF   NOUNS. 

37c  This,  my  dear  James,  is  a  letter  of  great  impor- 
tance, and,  therefore,  it  will  require  great  attention  from 
you.  Before  you  proceed  further,  you  will  again  look  well 
at  Letter  II,  paragraph  8,  and  then  at  Letter  III,  para- 
graphs 14,  15,  and  16,  and  there  read  carefully  everything 
under  the  head  of  Nouns. 

88.  Now,  then,  as  Letter  III  has  taught  you  how  to 
distinguish  Nouns  from  the  words  which  [that]  belong  to 
the  other  Parts  of  Speech,  the  business  here  is  to  teach  you 
the  principles  and  rules  according  to  which  Nouns  are  to 
be  varied  in  the  letters  of  which  they  are  composed,  accord- 
ing to  which  they  are  to  be  used,  and  according  to  which 
they  are  to  be  considered  in  their  bearing  upon  other  words 
in  the  sentences  in  which  they  are  used. 

39.  In  a  Noun  there  are  to  be  considered  the  branches, 
the  numbers,  the  genders,  and  the  cases  :  and  all  these  must 
be  attended  to  very  carefully. 

40.  THE  BRANCHES.  There  are  two  ;  for  Nouns 
are  some  of  them  proper  and  some  common.  A  Noun  is 
called  proper  when  it  is  used  to  distinguish  one  particular 
individual  from  the  rest  of  the  individuals  of  the  same  spe^ 
cies,  or  kind  ;  as,  James,  Botley,  Hampshire.  The  Noun  is 
called  common  when  it  applies  to  all  the  individuals  of  a 
kind  ;  as,  Man,  Village,  County.  Botley  is  a  proper  Noun, 
because  all  villages  have  not  this  name  ;  but  Village  is  a 
common  Noun,  because  all  villages  are  called  by  that  name  ; 
the  name  is  common  to  them  all.  Several  persons  have  the 
name  of  James,  to  be  sure,  and  there  is  a  Hampshire  in 
America  as  well  as  in  England  ;  but,  still,  these  are  proper 


36  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

names,  because  the  former  is  not  common  to  all  men,  nor 
the  latter  to  all  counties.  Proper  Nouns  take  no  articles 
before  them,  because  the  extent  of  their  meaning  is  clearly 
pointed  out  in  the  word  itself.  In  figurative  language,  of 
which  you  will  know  more  by-and-by,  we  sometimes,  how- 
ever, use  the  article  ;  as,  "  Goldsmith  is  a  very  pretty  poet, 
but  not  to  be  compared  to  the  Popes,  the  Drydens,  or  the 
Otways."  And  again  :  "  I  wish  I  had  the  wit  of  a  Swift." 
We  also  use  the  definite  article  before  proper  Nouns,  when 
a  common  Noun  is  understood  to  be  left  out  ;  as,  The  Del- 
aware, meaning  the  River  Delaware.  Also  when  we  speak 
of  more  than  one  person  of  the  same  name  ;  as,  The  Hen- 
ries, the  Edwards. 

41.  THE  NUMBERS.  These  are  the  Singular  and 
the  Plural.  The  Singular  is  the  original  word  ;  and,  in 
general,  the  Plural  is  formed  by  adding  an  s  to  the  singu- 
lar ;  as,  dog,  dogs.  But  though  the  greater  part  of  our  Nouns 
form  their  plurals  from  the  singular  in  this  simple  manner, 
there  are  many  which  [that]  do  not ;  while  there  are  some 
Nouns  which  [that]  have  no  plural  number  at  all,  and  some 
which  [that]  have  no  singular.  Therefore,  considering  the 
above  to  be  the  First  Rule,  I  shall  add  other  rules  with 
regard  to  the  Nouns  which  [that]  do  not  follow  that  Rule. 
— The  Second  Rule.  Nouns,  the  singular  numbers  of 
which  end  in  ch,  s,  sh,  or  x,  require  es  to  be  added  in  order 
to  form  their  plural  number :  as,  church,  churches ;  brush, 
brushes ;  lass,  lasses;  fox,  foxes. — The  Third  Rule  is 
that  Nouns  which  [that]  end  in  y,  when  the  y  has  a  conso- 
nant coming  immediately  before  it,  change  the  y  into  ies  in 
forming  their  plurals  ;  as,  quantity,  quantities.  But  you 
must  mind  that,  if  the  y  be  not  immediately  preceded  by  a 
consonant,  the  words  follow  the  First  Rule,  and  take  only 
an  s  in  addition  to  their  singular  ;  as,  day,  days.     I  am  the 


v.]  OF  NOUNS.  37 

more  anxious  to  guard  you  against  error  as  to  this  matter 
because  it  is  very  common  to  see  men  of  high  rank  and  pro- 
fession writing  vallies,  vollies,  attornies,  correspondencies, 
conveniencies,  and  the  like,  and  yet  all  these  are  erroneous. 
Correspondence  and  inconvenience  should  have  simply  an  s  : 
for  they  end  in  e  and  not  in  y. — The  Fourth  Rule  is  that 
Nouns  which  [that]  end  in  a  single  f,  or  in  fe,  form  their 
plurals  by  changing  the  for  fe  into  ves  ;  as,  loaf  loaves  ; 
wife,  wives.  But  this  rule  has  exceptions,  in  the  following 
words,  which  follow  the  First  Rule  :  Dwarf  scarf  mis- 
chief handkerchief  chief,  relief,  grief.  The  two  last  are 
seldom  used  in  the  plural  number  ;  but,  as  they  sometimes 
are,  I  have  included  them. — The  Fifth  Rule  is  that  the 
following  Nouns  have  their  plural  in  en  ;  matt,  meti ;  wom- 
an, women  ;  ox,  oxen  ;  child,  children.  And  brethren  is  used 
sometimes  as  the  plural  of  brother. — The  Sixth  Rule  is  that 
all  [nouns]  which  [that]  nature,  or  art,  or  habit,  has  made 
plural,  have  no  singular  ;  as,  ashes,  annals,  bellows,  bowels, 
thanks,  breeches,  entrails,  lungs,  scissors,  snuffers,  tongs, 
wages,  and  some  others.  There  are  also  some  Nouns  which 
[that]  have  no  plurals,  such  as  those  which  [that]  express 
the  qualities,  or  propensities,  or  feelings,  of  the  mind  or 
heart  ;  as,  honesty,  meekness,  compassion.  There  are,  fur- 
ther, several  names  of  herbs,  metals,  minerals,  liquids,  and 
of  fleshy  substances,  which  [that]  have  no  plurals  ;  to  which 
may  be  added  the  names  of  almost  all  sorts  of  grain.  There 
are  exceptions  here  ;  for  while  Wheat  has  no  plural,  Oats 
has  seldom  any  singular.  But  all  these  words,  and  others 
which  [that]  are  irregular,  in  a  similar  way,  are  of  such  very 
common  use  that  you  will  hardly  ever  make  a  mistake  in 
applying  them  ;  for  I  will  not  suppose  it  possible  for  my 
dear  James  to  fall  into  either  the  company  or  the  language 
of  those  who  [that]   talk,  and  even  write,  about  Barleys, 


38  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

Wheats,  Clovers,  Flours,  Grasses,  and  Malts.  There  re- 
main to  be  noticed,  however,  some  words  which  [that]  are 
too  irregular  in  the  forming  of  their  plurals  to  be  brought 
under  any  distinct  head  even  of  irregularity.  I  will,  there- 
fore, insert  these  as  they  are  used  in  both  numbers. 


SINGULAR. 

PLURAL. 

SINGULAR. 

PLURAL. 

Die, 

Dice. 

Goose, 

Geese. 

Mouse, 

Mice. 

Penny, 

Pence. 

Louse, 

Lice. 

Tooth, 

Teeth. 

Deer, 

Deer. 

Foot, 

Feet. 

42.  THE  GENDERS.  In  the  French  language,  and 
many  other  languages,  every  Noun  is  of  the  masculine  or 
of  the  feminine  gender.  Hand,  for  instance,  is  of  the  femi- 
nine, and  arm  of  the  masculine,  pen  of  the  feminine,  and 
paper  of  the  masculine.  This  is  not  the  case  with  our  lan- 
guage, which,  in  this  respect,  has  followed  the  order  of  na- 
ture. The  names  of  all  males  are  of  the  masculine  gender  ; 
the  names  of  all  females  are  of  the  feminine  gender  ;  and 
all  other  Nouns  are  of  the  neuter  gender.  And,  you  must 
observe  that,  even  in  speaking  [in  speaking  even]  of  living 
creatures,  of  which  we  do  not  know  the  gender,  we  consid- 
er them  to  be  of  the  neuter.  In  strictness  of  language,  we 
could  not,  perhaps,  apply  the  term  gender  to  things  desti- 
tute of  all  sexual  properties  ;  but,  as  it  is  applied  with  per= 
feet  propriety  in  the  case  of  males  and  females,  and  as  the 
application  in  the  case  of  inanimate  or  vegetable  matter  can 
lead  to  no  grammatical  error,  I  have  thought  it  best  to  fol- 
low, in  this  respect,  the  example  of  other  grammarians.  It 
may  be  said  that  the  rule  which  [that]  I  have  here  laid  down 
as  being  without  any  exception,  has  many  exceptions  ;  for 
that,  in  speaking  of  a  ship,  we  say  she  and  her.  And  you 
know  our  country  folks  in  Hampshire  call  almost  every* 


v.J  OF  NOUNS.  39 

thing  Jie  or  she.  Sailors  have,  for  ages,  called  their  vessels 
shes,  and  it  has  been  found  easier  to  adopt  than  to  eradi- 
cate the  vulgarism,  which  is  not  only  tolerated  but  cher- 
ished by  that  just  admiration  in  which  our  country  holds 
the  species  of  skill  and  of  valor  to  which  it  owes  much  of 
its  greatness  and  renown.  It  is  curious  to  observe  that 
country  laborers  give  the  feminine  appellations  to  those 
things  only  which  [that]  are  more  closely  identified  with 
themselves,  and  by  the  qualities  and  condition  of  which 
their  own  efforts  and  their  character  as  workmen  are 
affected.  The  mower  calls  his  scythe  a  she  ;  the  plowman 
calls  his  plow  a  she  ;  but  a  prong,  or  a  shovel,  or  a  har- 
row, which  passes  promiscuously  from  hand  to  hand,  and 
which  is  appropriated  to  no  particular  laborer,  is  called  a 
he.  It  was,  doubtless,  from  this  sort  of  habitual  attachment 
that  our  famous  maritime  solecism  arose.  The  deeds  of 
laborers  in  the  fields  and  of  artisans  in  their  shops  are  not 
of  public  interest  sufficiently  commanding  to  enable  them 
to  break  in  upon  the  principles  of  language  ;  if  they  were, 
we  should  soon  have  as  many  hes  and  shes  as  the  French, 
or  any  other  nation  in  the  world. 

43.  While,  however,  I  lay  down  this  rule  as  required 
by  strict  grammatical  correctness,  I  must  not  omit  to  ob- 
serve that  the  license  allowed  to  figurative  language  enables 
us  to  give  the  masculine  or  feminine  gender  to  inanimate 
objects.  This  has  been  justly  regarded  as  a  great  advan- 
tage in  our  language.  We  can,  whenever  our  subject  will 
justify  it,  transform  into  masculine,  or  into  feminine,  nouns 
■which  [that]  are,  strictly  speaking,  neuter  ;  and  thus,  by 
giving  the  functions  of  life  to  inanimate  objects,  enliven 
and  elevate  our  style,  and  give  to  our  expressions  great  ad- 
ditional dignity  and  force. 

44.  THE  OASES  OF  NOUNS.    The  word  case,  as 


#o  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

applied  to  the  concerns  of  life,  has  a  variety  of  meanings, 
or  of  different  shades  of  meaning  ;  but,  its  general  meaning 
is  state  of  things,  or  state  of  something.  Thus  we  say,  "  In 
that  case,  I  agree  with  you."  Meaning,  "  that  being  the 
state  of  things,  or  that  being  the  state  of  the  matter,  I  agree 
with  you."  Lawyers  are  said  "to  make  out  their  case; 
or  not  to  make  out  their  case;"  meaning  the  state  of  the 
matter  which  [that]  they  have  undertaken  to  prove.  So, 
when  we  say  that  a  horse  is  in  good  case,  we  mean  that  he 
is  in  a  good  state.  Nouns  may  be  in  different  states,  or  situ- 
ations, as  to  other  Nouns,  or  other  words.  For  instance,  a 
Noun  may  be  the  name  of  a  person  who  [that]  strikes  a 
horse,  or  of  a  person  who  [that]  possesses  a  horse,  or  of  a 
person  whom  [that]  a  horse  kicks.  And  these  different 
situations,  or  states,  are,  therefore,  called  cases. 

45.  You  will  not  fully  comprehend  the  use  of  these 
distinctions  till  you  come  to  the  Letter  on  Verbs  ;  but  it  is 
necessary  to  explain  here  the  nature  of  these  cases,  in  order 
that  you  may  be  prepared  well  for  the  use  of  the  terms, 
when  I  come  to  speak  of  the  Verbs.  In  the  Latin  lan- 
guage each  Noun  has  several  different  endings,  in  order  to 
denote  the  different  cases  in  which  it  may  be.  In  our  lan- 
guage there  is  but  one  of  the  cases  of  Nouns  which  [that] 
is  expressed  or  denoted  by  a  change  in  the  ending  of  the 
Noun  ;  and  of  this  change  I  will  [shall  ?]  speak  presently. 

46.  There  are  three  Cases :  the  ATominative,  the  Pos- 
sessive, and  the  Objective.  A  Noun  is  in  the  Nominative 
case  when  it  denotes  a  person,  or  thing,  which  [that]  does 
something  or  is  something  :  as,  Richard  strikes  ;  Richard  is 
<$ood. 

47.  A  Noun  is  in  the  Possessive  case  when  it  names 
a  person  or  thing  that  possesses  some  other  person  or  thing, 
or  when  there  is  one  of  the  persons  or  things  belonging  to 


v.]  OF  NOUNS.  \\ 

the  other;  as,  Richard's  hat ;  the  mountain's  top ;  the  no.' 
tion's  fleet.  Here  Richard,  mountain,  and  nation,  are  in 
the  possessive  case,  because  they  denote  persons  or  things 
which  [that]  possess  other  persons  or  things,  or  have  other 
persons  or  things  belonging  to  them.  And  here  is  that 
change  in  the  ending  of  the  Noun  of  which  I  spoke  above. 
You  see  that  Richard,  mountain,  nation,  has,  each  of  them, 
an  s  added  to  it,  and  a  mark  of  elision  over  ;  that  is  to  say, 
a  comma,  placed  above  the  line,  between  the  last  letter  of 
the  word  and  the  s.  This  is  done  for  the  purpose  of  distin- 
guishing this  case  from  the  plural  number  ;  or,  at  least,  it 
answers  the  purpose  in  all  cases  where  the  plural  of  the 
Noun  would  end  in  an  s ;  though  there  are  different  opin- 
ions as  to  the  origin  of  its  use.  In  Nouns  which  [that]  do 
not  end  their  plural  in  s,  the  mark  of  elision  would  not  ap- 
pear to  be  absolutely  necessary.  We  might  write  mans 
mind,  too  mans  heart,  but  it  is  best  to  use  the  mark  of  elision. 
When  plural  Nouns  end  with  s,  you  must  not  add  an  s  to 
form  the  possessive  case,  but  put  the  elision  mark  only 
after  the  s  which  [that]  ends  the  Noun  ;  as,  mountains" 
top ;  nations'  fleets  ;  lasses'  charms.  Observe,  however, 
that,  in  every  instance,  the  possessive  case  maybe  expressed 
by  a  turn  of  the  words  ;  as,  the  hat  of  Richard ;  the  top  of 
the  mountain  ;  the  fleet  of  the  nation  ;  the  mind  of  man  j 
and  so  on.  The  Nouns,  notwithstanding  this  turn  of  the 
words,  are  still  in  the  possessive  case  ;  and,  as  to  when  one 
mode  of  expression  is  best  [the  better]  and  when  the  other, 
it  is  a  matter  which  [that]  must  be  left  to  taste. 

[In  the  sentence,  The  hat  of  Richard,  Richard  is  said 
by  most  grammarians  to  be  in  the  objective  case  after  the 
preposition  of.  They  say,  The  objective  case  after  the 
preposition  of  is  often  equivalent  to  the  possessive."] 

48.  A  Noun  is  in   the  Objective   case  when  the  per- 


42  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

son  or  thing  that  it  names  or  denotes  is  the  object,  or  ends 
of  some  act  or  of  some  movement,  of  some  kind  or  other- 
Richard  strikes  Peter ;  Richard  gave  a  blow  to  Peter ; 
Richard  goes  after  Peter ;  Richard  hates  Peter ;  Richard 
wants  arms  ;  Richard  seeks  after  fame  ;  falsehood  leads  to 
mischief;  oppression  produces  resistance.  Here  you  see 
that  all  these  Nouns  in  the  objective  case  are  the  object,  the 
end,  or  the  effect,  of  something  done  or  felt  by  some  person 
or  thing,  and  which  other  person  or  thing  is  in  the  nomina- 
tive case. 


LETTER   VI. 

ETYMOLOGY   OF   PRONOUNS. 


My  dear  James: 

49.  You  will  now  refer  to  paragraphs  17,  18,  and  19, 
in  Letter  III ;  which  paragraphs  will  refresh  your  memory 
as  to  the  general  nature  and  use  of  Pronouns.  Then,  in  pro- 
ceeding to  become  well  acquainted  with  this  Part  of  Speech, 
you  will  first  observe  that  there  are  four  classes,  or  de- 
scriptions, of  Pronouns  :  first,  the  Personal ;  second,  the 
Relative;  third,  the  Demonstrative ;  and,  fourth,  the  In- 
definite. 

50.  In  PERSONAL  PRONOUNS  there  are  four 
things  to  be  considered :  the  person,  the  number,  the  gen- 
der, and  the  case. 

51.  There  are  three  persons.  The  Pronoun  which 
[that]  represents,  or  stands  in  the  place  of,  the  name  of  the 
person  who  [that]  speaks,  is  called  the  first  person  ;  that 
which  [that]  stands  in  the  place  of  the  name  of  the  person 
who  [that]  is  spoken  to,  is  called  the  second  person  ;  that 
which  [that]  stands  in  the  place  of  the  name  of  the  person 


vi.]  OF  PRONOUNS.  43 

who  [that]  is  spoken  of,  is  called  the  third  person.  For  ex. 
ample  :  "/am  asking  you  about  him."  This  circumstance 
of  person  you  will  by-and-by  find  to  be  of  great  moment  ; 
because,  as  you  will  see,  the  verbs  vary  their  endings  some- 
times to  correspond  with  the  person  of  the  Pronoun  ;  and, 
therefore,  you  ought  to  pay  strict  attention  to  it  at  the  out- 
set. 

52.  The  number  is  either  singular  or  plural,  and  the 
Pronouns  vary  their  spelling  to  express  a  difference  of  num- 
ber ;  as  in  this  table,  which  shows,  at  once,  all  the  persons 
and  all  the  numbers. 

SINGULAR.  PLURAL. 

First  person  I,  We. 

Second  person  Thou,  You. 

Third  person  He,  They. 

53.  The  next  thing  is  the  gender.  The  Pronouns  of 
the  first  and  second  person  have  no  changes  to  express 
gender  ;  but  the  third  person  singular  has  changes  for  that 
purpose:  he,  she,  or  it ;  and  I  need  not  point  out  to  you 
the  cases  where  one  of  these  ought  to  be  used  instead  of 
the  other. 

54.  The  case  is  the  last  thing  to  be  considered  in  per- 
sonal Pronouns.  The  meaning  of  the  word  case,  as  used  in 
the  rules  of  Grammar,  I  have  fully  explained  to  you  in  Let. 
ter  V,  paragraph  44.  In  paragraphs  45,  46,  47,  and  48,  in 
the  same  Letter,  I  have  treated  of  the  distinction  between 
the  cases.  Read  all  those  paragraphs  again  before  you 
proceed  further :  for  now  you  will  find  their  meaning  more 
clearly  explained  to  you  ;  because  the  personal  Pronouns, 
and  also  some  of  the  other  Pronouns,  have  different  endings, 
or  are  composed  of  different  letters,  in  order  to  point  out  the 
different  cases  in  which  they  are  :  as,  he,  his,  him. 

55.  The  Personal  Pronouns  have,  like  the  nouns,  three 


44 


ETYMOLOGY 


[LETTEff 


cases :  the  Nominative,  the  Possessive,  and  the  Objective. 
The  following  table  exhibits  the  whole  of  them  at  one  view, 
with  all  the  circumstances  of  person,  number,  gender,  and 
case. 

SINGULAR    NUMBER. 


Nominative.        Possessive. 


First  Person 


Second  Person 

Mas.  Gen. 


Third  J 
Person  I 


Femin. 

Neuter 


I. 

Thou, 

He, 

She, 

It, 


My, 

Mine, 

Thy, 

Thine, 

His, 

Her, 

Hers, 

Its, 


Objective. 
Me. 

Thee. 
Him. 
Her. 
It. 


First  Person 
Second  Person, 


PLURAL   NUMBER. 

Nominative, 

We, 


You, 


Possessive. 

Our, 

Ours, 

Your, 

Yours, 


Third 
Person 


Mas.  Gen.  They, 
Femin.  They, 
Neuter         They, 


Their, 
Theirs, 


(    Your,  ) 

\    Yours,        ) 


Objectivt, 
Us. 

You. 
Them. 


56.  Upon  this  table  there  are  some  remarks  to  be  at« 
tended  to.  In  the  possessive  cases  of  /,  Thou,  She,  We, 
You,  and  They,  there  are  two  different  words ;  as,  My,  or 
Mine ;  but  you  know  that  the  former  is  used  when  fol- 
lowed by  the  name  of  the  person  or  thing  possessed  ;  and 
that  the  latter  is  used  when  not  so  followed :  as,  "  This  is 
my  pen  ;  this  pen  is  mine."  And  it  is  the  same  with  regard 
to  the  possessive  cases  of  Thou,  She,  We,  You,  and  They. 


vi.]  OF  PRONOUNS.  45 

57.  Thou  is  here  given  as  the  second  person  singular; 
but  common  custom  has  set  aside  the  rules  of  Grammar  in 
this  case  ;  and  though  we,  in  particular  cases,  still  make 
use  of  Thou  and  Thee,  we  generally  make  use  of  You  in- 
stead of  either  of  them.  According  to  ancient  rule  and 
custom  this  is  not  correct ;  but  what  a  whole  people  adopts 
and  universally  practices  must,  in  such  cases,  be  deemed 
correct,  and  to  be  a  superseding  of  ancient  rule  and  custom. 

58.  Instead  of  you  the  ancient  practice  was  to  put  ye 
in  the  nominative  case  of  the  second  person  plural  ;  but 
this  practice  is  now  laid  aside,  except  in  cases  which  [thatj 
very  seldom  occur  ;  but  whenever^  is  made  use  of,  it  must 
be  in  the  nominative,  and  never  in  the  objective,  case.  I 
may,  speaking  to  several  persons,  say,  "Ye  have  injured 
me  ;  "  but  not  "  I  have  injured^." 

59.  The  words  self  and  selves  are  sometimes  added  to 
the  personal  Pronouns ;  as,  myself,  thyself,  himself ;  but 
as  these  compounded  words  are  liable  to  no  variations  that 
can  possibly  lead  to  error,  it  will  be  useless  to  do  anything 
further  than  just  to  notice  them. 

60.  The  Pronoun  it,  though  a  personal  Pronoun,  does 
not  always  stand  for,  or  at  least  appear  to  stand  for,  any 
noun  whatever  ;  but  is  used  in  order  to  point  out  a  state  of 
things,  or  the  cause  of  something  produced.  For  instance: 
"  It  freezed  [froze]  hard  last  night,  and  it  was  so  cold  that 
it  was  with  great  difficulty  the  travelers  kept  on  their 
journey."  Now,  what  was  it  that  freezed  [froze]  so  hard  ? 
Not  the  frost ;  because  the  frost  is  the  effect,  and  not  the 
cause  of  freezing  We  can  not  say  that  it  was  the  weatlie*' 
that  freezed  [froze]  ;  because  the  freezing  constituted  in 
part  the  weather  itself.  No  ;  the  Pronoun  it  stands,  in  this 
place,  for  state  of  things,  or  circumstances ;  and  this  sen- 
tence  might  be  written  thus :  "  The  freezing  was  so  hard 


46  ETYMOLOGY  [letteb 

last  night,  and  the  cold  was  so  severe,  that  the  travelers 
found  great  difficulty  in  keeping  on  their  journey."  Let 
us  take  another  example  or  two  :  "  It  [there]  is  a  frost  this 
morning.  7/  will  rain  to-night.  It  will  be  fine  to-morrow." 
That  is  to  say,  "  A  state  of  things  called  frost  exists  this 
morning ;  a  state  of  things  called  rain  will  exist  to-night ; 
and  to-morrow  a  state  of  things  [will  exist]  called  fine 
weather."  Another  example :  "It  is  delightful  to  see 
brothers  and  sisters  living  in  uninterrupted  love  to  the  end 
of  their  days."  That  is  to  say,  "  The  state  of  things  which 
[that]  exhibits  brothers  and  sisters  living  in  uninterrupted 
love  to  the  end  of  their  days  is  delightful  to  see."  The 
Pronoun  it  is,  in  this  its  impersonal  capacity,  used  in  a 
great  variety  of  instances  ;  but  I  forbear  to  extend  my  re- 
marks on  the  subject  here  ;  because  those  remarks  will  find 
a  more  suitable  place  when  I  come  to  another  part  of  my 
instructions.  I  have  said  enough  here  to  prevent  the  puz- 
zling that  might  have  arisen  from  your  perceiving  that  the 
Pronoun  it  was  sometimes  used  without  your  being  able  to 
trace  its  connection  with  any  noun  either  expressed  or  un- 
derstood. 

61.  In  order,  however,  further  to  illustrate  this  mat- 
ter in  this  place,  I  will  make  a  remark  or  two  upon  the  use 
of  the  word  there.  Example:  'T//w  a^  many  men,  who 
[that]  have  been  at  Latin  schools  for  years,  and  who  [that], 
at  last,  can  not  write  six  sentences  in  English  correctly." 
Now,  you  know,  the  word  there,  in  its  usual  sense,  has  ref- 
erence to  place ;  yet  it  has  no  such  reference  here.  The 
meaning  is  that  "  Many  men  are  in  existence  who  [that] 
have  been  at  Latin  schools."  Again  :  "  There  never  was 
anything  so  beautiful  as  that  flower."  That  is  to  say, 
"  Anything  so  beautiful  as  that  flower  never  [before]  existed, 
or  never  [before]  was  in  being." 


VI.]  OF  PRONOUNS.  47 

62.  We  now  come  to  the  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS, 

of  which  class  there  are  only  three  :  namely,  Who,  Which, 
and  That.  The  two  latter  always  remain  the  same,  through 
all  numbers,  genders,  and  cases  ;  but  the  Pronoun  who 
changes  its  endings  in  order  to  express  the  possessive  and 
objective  cases  :  as,  who,  whose,  whom. 

63.  These  Pronouns  are  called  relative,  because  they 
always  relate  directly  to  some  Noun  or  some  personal  Pro- 
noun, or  to  some  combination  of  words,  which  is  called  the 
antecedent ;  that  is  to  say,  the  person  or  thing  going  before. 
Thus:  "The  soldier  who  [that]  was  killed  at  the  siege." 
Soldier  is  the  antecedent.  Again :  "  The  men,  if  I  am  right- 
ly informed,  who  [that]  came  hither  last  night,  who  [that] 
went  away  this  morning,  whose  money  you  have  received, 
and  to  whom  you  gave  a  receipt,  are  natives  of  South 
America."  Men  is  here  the  antecedent ;  and  in  this  sen- 
tence there  are  all  the  variations  to  which  this  Pronoun  is 
liable. 

64.  Who,  whose,  and  whom  can  not  be  used  correct- 
ly as  relatives  to  any  Nouns  or  Pronouns  which  [that]  do 
not  represent  men,  women,  or  children.  It  is  not  correct  to 
say,  the  horse,  or  the  dog,  or  the  tree,  who  [that]  was  so 
and  so  ;  or  to  whom  was  done  this  or  that ;  or  whose  color, 
or  anything  else,  was  such  or  such.  But  the  word  That,  as 
a  relative  Pronoun,  may  be  applied  to  nouns  of  all  sorts  ; 
as,  the  boy  that  ran  ;  the  horse  that  galloped  ;  the  tree  that 
was  blowed  [blown]  down. 

65.  Which,  as  a  relative  Pronoun,  is  confined  to  irra- 
tional creatures,  and  here  it  may  be  used  as  a  relative  indif- 
ferently with  that;  as,  the  horse  which  [that]  galloped  ;  the 
tree  which  [that]  was  blowed  [blown]  down.  This  appli- 
cation of  the  relative  which  solely  to  irrational  creatures  ib, 
however,  of  modern  date  ;  for,  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in  the 


48  E  T  YMOLOG  Y  [letter 

English  Church  Service,  we  say,  "  Our  Father  which  art  in 
heaven."*  In  the  American  Liturgy  this  error  has  been 
corrected  ;  and  they  say,  "  Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven." 

66.  I  can  not,  even  for  the  present,  quit  these  relative 
Pronouns  without  observing  to  you  that  they  are  words  of 
vast  importance,  and  that  more  errors,  and  errors  of  greater 
consequence,  arise  from  a  misapplication  of  them  than  from 
the  misapplication  of  almost  all  the  other  classes  of  words 
put  together.  The  reason  is  this,  they  are  relatives,  and 
they  frequently  stand  as  the  representatives  of  that  which 
[that]  has  gone  before,  and  which  [that]  stands  in  a  distant 
part  of  the  sentence.  This  will  be  more  fully  explained 
when  I  come  to  the  Syntax  of  Pronouns  ;  but  the  matter  is 
of  such  [so]  great  moment  that  I  could  not  refrain  from  giv- 
ing you  an  intimation  of  it  here. 

67.  The  DEMONSTRATIVE  PRONOUNS  are  so 
called  because  they  more  particularly  mark  or  demon- 
strate the  nouns  before  which  they  are  placed,  or  for  which 
they  sometimes  stand.  They  are,  This,  These,  That, 
Those,  and  What.  The  use  of  them  is  so  well  known,  and 
is  liable  to  so  litrfe  error,  that  my  chief  object  in  giving 
them  this  separate  place  is  to  show  you  the  difference  be- 
tween That,  when  a  relative,  and  when  not  a  relative.  Take 
an  example  :  li  That  man  is  not  the  man,  as  far  as  I  am 
«,ble  to  discover,  that  came  hither  last  night."     The  first  of 

*  In  Shakespeare  we  have — 

44  Then  Warwick  disannuls  great  John  of  Gaunt, 
Which  did  subdue  the  greater  part  of  Spain." 

3  Henry  VI,  iii,  3. 
44  Abhorred  slave 
Which  any  point  of  goodness  will  not  take." 

Tempest,  i,  s. 

**And  thou,  great  goddess  Nature,  -which  hast  made  it." 

Winter's  TaU,  ii,  3. 


vi.]  OF  PRONOUNS.  49 

these  Thais  does  not  relate  to  the  man  ;  it  merely  points 
him  out ;  but  the  latter  relates  to  him,  carries  you  back  to 
him,  and  supplies  the  place  of  repetition.  This  same  word, 
That,  is  sometimes  a  Conjunction  :  as,  "  That  man  is  not 
the  man,  as  far  as  I  can  discover,  that  came  hither  last 
night,  and  that  was  so  ill  that  he  could  hardly  walk."  The 
relative  is  repeated  in  the  third  That ;  but  the  fourth  That 
is  merely  a  conjunction  serving  to  connect  the  effect  of  the 
illness  with  the  cause. 

68.  Perhaps  a  profound  examination  of  the  matter 
would  lead  to  a  proof  of  That  ['s]  being  always  a  Pronoun  ; 
but,  as  such  examination  would  be  more  curious  than  use- 
ful, 1  shall  content  myself  with  having  clearly  shown  you 
the  difference  in  its  offices,  as  a  relative,  as  a  demonstrative, 
and  as  a  conjunction. 

69.  What,  together  with  who,  whose,  whom,  and  which, 
are  [is?]  employed  in  asking  questions ;  and  are  sometimes 
ranged  under  a  separate  head,  and  called  interrogative  Pro- 
nouns. I  have  thought  this  unnecessary  ;  but  here  is  an 
observation  of  importance  to  attend  to  ;  for  which,  though 
as  a  relative  it  can  not  be  applied  to  the  intellectual  species, 
is,  as  an  interrogative,  properly  applied  to  that  species :  as, 
"  Which  man  was  it  who  [that]  spoke  to  you  ?  " 

70.  What  sometimes  stands  for  both  noun  and  rela- 
tive Pronoun  :  as,  "  What  I  want  is  well  known."  That  is 
to  say,  "  The  thing  which  [that]  I  want  is  well  known.'' 
Indeed,  what  has,  in  all  cases,  this  extended  signification  ; 
for  when,  in  the  way  of  inquiry  as  to  words  which  [that]  we 
have  not  clearly  understood,  we  say,  What?  our  full  mean- 
ing is,  "  Repeat  to  us  that  which  [that]  you  have  said,"  or, 
**  the  words  which  [that]  you  have  spoken." 

71.  The  INDETERMINATE  PRONOUNS  are  so 
called  because  they  express  their  objects  in  a  general  and 


50  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

indeterminate  manner.  Several  of  them  are  also  adjectives. 
It  is  only  where  they  are  employed  alone,  that  is  to  say, 
without  nouns,  that  they  ought  to  be  regarded  as  Pronouns. 
For  instance :  "  One  is  always  hearing  of  the  unhappiness 
of  one  person  or  another. "  The  first  of  these  ones  is  a  Pro- 
noun ;  the  last  is  an  Adjective,  as  is  also  the  word  another ; 
for  a  noun  is  understood  to  follow,  though  it  is  not  ex- 
pressed. These  Pronouns  are  as  follow  :  One,  any,  each, 
none,  some,  other,  every,  either,  many,  whoever,  whatever, 
neither,  and  some  few  others,  but  all  of  them  [are]  words 
invariable  in  their  orthography,  and  all  [are]  of  very  com 
mon  use. 


LETTER  VII. 

ETYMOLOGY   OF   ADJECTIVES. 


My  dear  James  : 

72.  In  Letter  III,  paragraph  21,  I  have  described  what 
an  Adjective  is.  You  will,  therefore,  now  read  that  para- 
graph carefully  over,  before  we  proceed  in  studying  [to 
study]  the  contents  of  the  present  Letter. 

73.  The  adjectives  have  no  changes  to  express  gen- 
der or  case  ;  but  they  have  changes  to  express  degrees  0/ 
comparison.  As  Adjectives  describe  the  qualities  and  prop- 
erties of  nouns,  and  as  these  may  be  possessed  in  a  degree 
higher  in  one  case  than  in  another,  Adjectives  have  degrees 
of  comparison  ;  that  is  to  say,  changes  in  their  endings,  to 
suit  these  varying  circumstances.  A  tree  may  be  high,  but 
another  may  be  higher,  and  a  third  may  be  the  highest. 
Adjectives  have,  then,  these  three  degrees  :  the  first  degree, 
or  rather  the  primitive  word,  is  called  the  Positive ;  the 
second,  the  Comparative  j  the  third,  the   Superlative.     Fof 


vn.]  OF  ADJECTIVES.  $1 

the  forming  of  these  degrees  I  shall  give  you  four  rules , 
and,  if  you  pay  strict  attention  to  these  rules,  you  will  need 
to  be  told  very  little  more  about  this  Part  of  Speech. 

74.  First  Rule.  Adjectives  in  general,  which  [that] 
end  in  a  consonant,  form  their  comparative  degree  by  add- 
ing er  to  the  positive,  and  form  their  superlative  degree  by 
adding  est  to  the  positive  ;  as, 

POSITIVE.  COMPARATIVE.  SUPERLATIVE. 

Rich,  Richer,  Richest. 

75.  Second  Rule.  Adjectives  which  [that]  end  in  e, 
add,  in  forming  their  comparative,  only  an  r,  and  in  form, 
ing  their  superlative,  st ;  as, 

POSITIVE.  COMPARATIVE.  SUPERLATIVE. 

Wise,  Wiser,  Wisest. 

76.  Third  Rule.  When  the  positive  ends  in  d,  g,  or  /, 
and  when  these  consonants  are,  at  the  same  time,  preceded 
by  a  single  vowel,  the  consonant  is  doubled  in  forming  the 
comparative  and  superlative  ;  as, 

POSITIVE.  COMPARATIVE.  SUPERLATIVE. 

Red,  Redder,  Reddest. 

Big,  Bigger,  Biggest. 

Hot,  Hotter,  Hottest. 

But,  if  the  d,  g,  or  /,  be  preceded  by  another  consonant, 
or  by  more  than  one  vowel,  the  final  consonant  is  not 
doubled  in  the  forming  of  the  two  latter  degrees  ;  as, 

POSITIVE.  COMPARATIVE.  SUPERLATIVE. 

Kind,  Kinder,  Kindest. 

Neat,  Neater,  Neatest 

77.  Fourth  Rule.  When  the  positive  ends  in  y,  pre- 
ceded by  a  consonant,  the  y  changes  into  ie  in  the  other 
degrees. 


52  ETYMOLOGY  [lettts* 

POSITIVE.  COMPARATIVE.  SUPERLATIVE. 

Lovely,  Lovelier,  Loveliest. 

Pretty,  Prettier,  Prettiest. 

78.  There  are  some  Adjectives  which  [that]  can  be  re- 
duced to  no  rule,  and  which  [that]  must  be  considered  as 
irregular ;  as, 

POSITIVE.  COMPARATIVE.  SUPERLATIVE. 

Good,  Better,  Best. 

Bad,  Worse,  Worst. 

Little,  Less,  Least. 

Much,  More,  Most. 

79.  Some  Adjectives  can  have  no  degrees  of  compari- 
son, because  their  signification  admits  of  no  augmentation  ; 
as,  all,  each,  every,  any,  several,  some ;  and  all  the  numeri- 
cal Adjectives  ;  as,  one,  two,  three ;  first,  second,  third. 

80.  Adjectives  which  [that]  end  in  most  are  superlative, 
and  admit  of  no  change  ;  as,  utmost,  tippermost. 

81.  However,  you  will  observe  that  all  Adjectives  which 
[that]  admit  of  comparison  may  form  their  degrees  by  the 
use  of  the  words  more  and  most/  as, 


OSITIVE. 

COMPARATIVE. 

SUPERLATIVE. 

Rich, 

More  rich, 

Most  rich. 

Tender, 

More  tender, 

Most  tender. 

When  the  positive  contains  but  one  syllable,  the  degrees  are 
usually  formed  by  adding  to  the  positive  according  to  the 
four  rules.  When  the  positive  contains  two  syllables,  it  is  a 
matter  of  taste  which  method  you  shall  use  in  forming  the 
degrees.  The  ear  is,  in  this  case,  the  best  guide.  But 
when  the  positive  contains  more  than  two  syllables,  the  de- 
grees must  be  formed  by  the  use  of  more  and  most.  We  may 
say  tender  and  tenderest,  pleasanter  and  pleasantest,  prettier 
zndj>rettiest  :  but  who  could  tolerate  delicater  and  delicatestl 


viii.]  OF   VERBS.  $$ 


LETTER  VIII. 
etymology  of  verbs. 

My  dear  James  . 

82.  The  first  thing  you  have  to  do  in  beginning  your 
study,  as  to  this  important  Part  of  Speech,  is  to  read  again 
very  slowly  and  carefully  paragraphs  23,  24,  25,  and  26,  in 
Letter  III.  Having,  by  well  attending  to  what  is  said  in 
those  paragraphs,  learned  to  distinguish  Verbs  from  the 
words  belonging  to  other  Parts  of  Speech,  you  will  now 
enter,  with  a  clear  head,  on  an  inquiry  into  the  variations  to 
which  the  words  of  this  Part  of  Speech  are  liable. 

83.  Sorts  of  Verbs.  Verbs  are  considered  as  active, 
passive,  or  neuter.  A  Verb  is  called  active  when  it  ex- 
presses an  action  which  [that]  is  produced  by  the  nomina- 
tive of  the  sentence  ;  as,  "  Pitt  restrained  the  Bank."  It  is 
passive  when  it  expresses  an  action  which  [that]  is  received, 
or  endured,  by  the  person  or  thing  which  [that]  is  the  nom- 
inative of  the  sentence  ;  as,  "  the  Bank  is  restrained"  It 
is  neuter  when  it  expresses  simply  the  state  of  being,  or 
existence,  ot  a  person  or  thing  ;  as,  "  Dick  lies  in  bed  ;  "  or, 
when  it  expresses  an  action  confined  within  the  actor. 

[The  most  modern  classification  of  verbs  is  into  active- 
transitive,  active-intransitive,  and  neuter^\ 

84.  It  is  of  great  consequence  that  you  clearly  under* 
stand  these  distinctions,  because  I  shall,  by-and-by,  use 
these  terms  very  frequently.  And  in  order  to  give  you  a 
[omit]  proof  of  the  necessity  of  attending  to  these  distinc- 
tions, I  will  here  give  you  a  specimen  of  the  errors  which 
[that]  are  sometimes  committed  by  those  who  [that]  do  not 
understand  Grammar.  This  last-mentioned  Verb,  to  lie, 
becomes,  in  the  past  time,  lay.     Thus  :  "  Dick  lies  on  a 


54  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

bed  now,  but  some  time  ago,  he  lay  on  the  floor."  This 
Verb  is  often  confounded  with  the  Verb  to  lay,  which  is  an 
active  Verb,  and  which  becomes,  in  its  past  time,  laid. 
Thus :  "  I  lay  my  hat  on  the  table  to-day,  but,  yesterday,  I 
laid  it  on  the  shelf."  Let  us  take  another  instance,  in  order 
the  more  clearly  to  explain  this  matter.  A  Verb  may  some- 
times be  what  we  call  a  neuter  Verb,  though  it  expresses  an 
action  ;  but  this  happens  when  the  action  is  confined  within 
the  actor ;  that  is  to  say,  when  there  is  no  object  to  which 
the  action  passes.  Strike  is  clearly  an  active  Verb,  because 
something  is  stricken  [struck]  ;  a  stroke  is  given  to,  or  put 
upon,  something.  But  in  the  case  of  to  rise,  though  there 
is  an  action,  it  passes  on  to  no  object ;  as,  I  rise  early. 
Here  is  no  object  to  which  the  action  passes.  But  to  raise 
is  an  active  Verb,  because  the  action  passes  on  to  an  ob- 
ject ;  as,  I  raise  a  stick,  I  raise  my  hand,  I  raise  my  head, 
and  also,  I  raise  myself ;  because,  though  in  this  last  in- 
stance the  action  is  confined  to  me,  it  is  understood  that  my 
mind  gives  the  motion  to  my  body.  These  two  Verbs  are, 
in  speaking  and  writing,  incessantly  [continually]  confound- 
ed ;  though  one  is  a  neuter  and  the  other  an  active  Verb, 
though  one  is  regular  and  the  other  irregular,  or  [and] 
though  they  are  not,  in  any  person,  time,  or  mode,  com- 
posed of  the  same  letters.  This  confusion  could  never  take 
place  if  attention  were  paid  to  the  principle  above  laid 
down. 

85.  Having  thus  given  you  the  means  of  distinguishing 
the  sorts  of  Verbs,  I  now  proceed  to  matters  which  [that] 
are  common  to  all  the  sorts.  There  are  four  things  to  be 
considered  in  a  verb  :  the  person,  the  number,  the  time,  and 
the  mode. 

86.  The  Person. — Read  again  Letter  VI,  on  the  Ety« 
mology  of  Pronouns.     You  will  there  clearly  see  the  use  of 


viii.]  OF    VERBS.  55 

this  distinction  about  Persons  ;  and,  as  I  have  told  you,  you 
will  find  that  it  is  a  matter  of  great  consequence  ;  because 
it  will  now,  at  once,  be  evident  to  you  that,  unless  the  dis- 
tinction of  person  be  attended  to,  almost  every  sentence 
must  be  erroneous. 

87.  The  Verb  must  agree  in  person  with  the  Noun  or 
the  Pronoun  which  [that]  is  the  nominative  of  the  sentence. 
Look  back  at  Letter  V,  and  at  paragraphs  44,  45,  46,  and 
47,  in  order  to  refresh  your  memory  as  to  the  nominative 
and  other  cases.  The  Verb,  then,  must  agree  with  the 
nominative  :  as,  "I  write ;  he  writes.'"  To  say,  "  I  writes ; 
he  write,"  would  be  both  erroneous. 

88.  Look  back  at  the  explanation  about  the  persons  in 
the  Etymology  of  Pronouns  in  Letter  VI.  There  are  three 
persons  ;  but  our  Verbs  have  no  variation  in  their  spelling, 
except  for  the  third  person  singular.  For  we  say,  "  I  write, 
you  write,  we  write,  they  write ;"  and  only  "he,  she,  or  it 
writes."     This,  then,  is  a  very  plain  matter. 

89.  Number  is  a  matter  equally  plain,  seeing  that  our 
Verbs  do  not,  except  in  one  or  two  instances,  vary  their 
endings,  to  express  number.  But  when  several  nouns  or 
pronouns  come  together,  care  must  be  taken  to  make  the 
Verb  agree  with  them  :  as,  "  Knight  and  Johnstone  resist 
the  tyrants."  Not  resists.  But  this  will  be  more  fully  dwelt 
on  in  the  Syntax. 

90.  The  Time. — The  Verb  has  variations  to  express  the 
time  of  an  action  :  as,  "  Sidmouth  writes  a  Circular  Letter  ; 
Sidmouth  wrote  a  Circular  Letter ;  Sidmouth  will  write  a 
Circular  Letter."  Again  :  "  The  Queen  defies  the  tyrants  ; 
the  Queen  defied  the  tyrants  ;  the  Queen  will  defy  the  ty- 
rants." The  Times  of  a  Verb  are,  therefore,  called  the 
present,  the  past,  and  the  future. 

91.  The  Modes.— The  Modes  [or  Moods]  of  Verbs  arc 


56  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

the  different  manners  of  expressing  an  action  or  a  state  of 
being,  which  manners  are  sometimes  positive,  sometimes 
conditional,  and  sometimes  indeterminate ;  and  there  are 
changes  or  variations  in  the  spelling  or  writing  of  the 
Verb,  or  of  the  little  words  used  with  the  Verb,  in  order  to 
express  this  difference  in  manner  and  sense.  I  will  give 
you  an  instance  :  "  He  walks  fast."  "  If  he  walk  fast,  he 
will  fatigue  himself."  In  most  other  languages  the  Verb 
changes  its  form  very  often  and  very  much,  to  make  it  ex- 
press the  different  modes.  In  ours  it  does  not ;  because  we 
have  little  words  called  signs,  which  we  use  with  the  Verbs 
instead  of  varying  the  form  of  the  Verbs  themselves.  To 
make  the  matter  clear,  I  will  give  you  an  example  of  the 
English  compared  with  the  French  language  in  this  re- 
spect. 

E.  F. 

I  march  Je  marche. 

I  marched  Je  marchais. 

I  might  march  Je  marchasse. 

I  should  march  Je  marcherais. 

There  are  other  variations  in  the  French  Verb  ;  but  we  ef- 
fect the  purposes  of  these  variations  by  the  use  of  the  signs, 
shall,  may,  might,  could,  would,  and  others. 

92.  The  Modes  are  four  in  number :  the  infinitive,  the 
indicative,  the  subjunctive,  and  the  imperative.  Besides 
these  there  are  the  two  participles,  of  which  I  shall  speak 
presently. 

93.  The  Infinitive  Mode  is  the  Verb  in  its  primitive 
state  :  as,  to  march.  And  this  is  called  the  Infinitive  be. 
cause  it  is  without  bounds  or  limit.  It  merely  expresses  the 
action  of  marching,  without  any  constraint  as  to  person  or 
number  or  time.  The  little  word  to  makes,  in  fact,  a  pari 
of  the  Verb.     This  word  to  is,  of  itself,  a  Apposition  ;  but, 


V*X\  OF    VERBS.  57 

**  prefixed  to  Verbs,  it  is  merely  a  sign  of  the  Infinitive 
M'  de.  In  other  languages  there  is  no  such  sign.  In  the 
Fp  nch,  for  instance,  a//trmeans  to  go  ;  ecrire  means  to  write. 
Thus,  then,  you  will  bear  in  mind  that  in  English,  the  to 
makes  a  part  of  the  Verb  itself,  when  in  the  Infinitive  Alode. 

94.  The  Indicative  Mode  is  that  in  which  we  express 
m  action,  or  state  of  being,  positively :  that  is  to  say,  with- 
out any  condition,  or  any  dependent  circumstance.  It 
merely  indicates  the  action  or  state  of  being,  without  being 
subjoined  to  anything  which  [that]  renders  the  action  or 
state  of  being  dependent  on  any  other  action  or  state  of 
being.     Thus  :   "  He  writes ."     This  is  the  Indicative. 

95.  But  the  Subjunctive  Mode  comes  into  use  when  I 
say,  "  If  he  write,  the  guilty  tyrants  will  be  ready  with  their 
dungeons  and  axes."  In  this  case  there  is  something  sub' 
joined ;  and  therefore  this  is  called  the  Subjunctive  Mode. 
Observe,  however,  that  in  our  language  there  is  no  very 
great  use  in  this  distinction  of  modes  ;  because,  for  the  most 
part,  our  little  signs  do  the  business,  and  they  never  vary 
in  the  letters  of  which  they  are  composed.  The  distinction 
is  useful  only  as  regards  the  employment  of  Verbs  without 
the  signs,  and  where  the  signs  are  left  to  be  understood  ;  as  in 
the  above  case,  "  If  he  should  write,  the  guilty  tyrants  would 
be  ready."  And  observe,  further,  that  when  the  signs  are 
used,  or  understood,  the  Verb  retains  its  original  or  primi- 
tive form  throughout  all  the  persons,  numbers,  and  times. 

96.  The  Imperative  Mode  is  mentioned  here  merely  for 
form's  sake.  It  is  that  state  of  the  Verb  which  [that]  com* 
mands,  orders,  bids,  calls  to,  or  invokes :  as,  come  hither ;  be 
good  ;  march  away  ;  pay  me.  In  other  languages  there  are 
changes  in  the  spelling  of  the  Verbs  to  answer  to  this  mode  ; 
but  in  ours  there  are  none  of  these  ;  and  therefore  the  mat- 
ter is  hardly  worth  notice,  except  as  a  mere  matter  of  form, 


58  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

97.  The  Participles,  however,  are  different  in  point  of 
importance.  They  are  of  two  sorts,  the  active  and  the 
passive.  The  former  ends  always  in  ing,  and  the  latter  is 
generally  the  same  as  the  past  time  of  the  Verb  out  of  which 
it  grows.  Thus  :  working  is  an  active  participle,  and  worked 
a  passive  participle.  They  are  called  participles  because 
they  partake  of  the  qualities  of  other  Parts  of  Speech  as 
well  as  of  Verbs.  For  instance :  "  I  am  working ;  work- 
ing is  laudable  ;  a  working  man  is  more  worthy  of  honor 
than  a  titled  plunderer  who  [that]  lives  in  idleness."  In 
the  first  instance  working  is  a  Verb,  in  the  second  a  Noun, 
in  the  third  an  Adjective.  So  in  the  case  of  the  passive 
participle :  I  worked  yesterday  ;  that  is  worked  mortar.  The 
first  is  a  Verb,  the  last  an  Adjective. 

98.  Thus  have  I  gone  through  all  the  circumstances  of 
change  to  which  Verbs  are  liable.  I  will  now  give  you  the 
complete  conjugation  of  a  Verb.  To  conjugate,  in  its  usual 
acceptation,  means  to  join  together ;  and,  as  used  by  Gram- 
marians, it  means  to  place  under  one  view  all  the  variations 
in  the  form  of  a  Verb  ;  beginning  with  the  Infinitive  Mode 
and  ending  with  a  Participle.  I  will  now  lay  before  you, 
then,  the  conjugation  of  the  Verb  to  7uork,  exhibiting  that 
Verb  in  all  its  persons,  numbers,  times,  and  modes. 

INFINITIVE   MODE. 
To  Work. 

INDICATIVE   MODE. 

Singular.  Plural. 

f  1st  Person.     I  work,  We  work. 

1  2d  Person.     Thou  workest,     You  work. 

'    1 3d  Person.  \  He'  she>  or  h  I  They  work. 
/       works. 


VIII.] 


OF    VERBS. 


59 


Past 
Time. 


Future 
Time. 


—  I  worked, 

—  Thou  workedst, 

—  He  worked, 

—  I  shall  or  will  work, 

—  Thou  shalt  or  wilt  work, 

—  He  shall  or  will  work, 


We  worked. 
You  worked. 
They  worked. 
We    shall  or  will 

work. 
You  shall  or  will 
work. 
|  They  shall  or  will 
C      work. 


SUBJUNCTIVE    MODE. 

\i  I  work,  or  may,  might,  could,  would,  or  should  work. 

If  thou  work,  or  may work. 

If  he,  she,  or  it  work,  or  may  - work. 

If  we  work,  or  may work. 

If  you  work,  or  may work. 

If  they  work,  or  may work. 

IMPERATIVE  MODE. 

Let  me  work,  Let  us  work. 

Work  thou,  Work  you. 

Let  him  work,  Let  them  work. 

PARTICIPLES. 

A  dive. — Working. 
Passive. — Worked. 
99.  Some  explanatory  remarks  are  necessary  here.  The 
third  person  singular  of  the  Indicative  present  used  to  be 
written  with  eth ;  as,  worketh ;  but  this  spelling  has  long 
been  disused.  The  past  time  may  be  formed  by  [with]  did : 
as,  did  work,  instead  of  worked ;  and  do  work  may  be  used 
in  the  present  time  ;  but,  in  fact,  these  little  words  are  a 
great  deal  more  than  mere  marks  of  the  times.     They  are 


60  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

used  in  one  time  to  express  the  negative  of  another,  or  to 
affirm  with  more  than  ordinary  emphasis. 

100.  Grammarians  generally  make  a  present  and  a  past 
time  under  the  Subjunctive  Mode  ;  but  the  truth  is  that  any 
of  the  signs  may  apply  to  the  present,  past,  or  future  of 
that  Mode.  These  are  little  words  of  vast  import  and  of 
constant  use  ;  and  though  that  use  is  so  very  difficult  to  be 
learned  by  foreigners,  we  ourselves  never  make  mistakes 
with  regard  to  it.  The  Verb  to  be  alone  changes  its  form 
in  order  to  make  a  past  time  in  the  Subjunctive  Mode. 

101.  As  to  the  Imperative  Mode,  where  the  Pronouns 
thou  and  you  are  put  after  the  Verb,  we  seldom  put  the  thou 
and  the  you.  We  make  use  of  the  Verb  only,  which  is  quite 
sufficient. 

102.  Some  Grammarians  put  in  their  conjugations  what 
they  call  the  compound  times :  as,  I  have  worked,  I  had 
worked,  I  shall  have  worked,  I  may  have  worked,  and  so  on. 
But  this  can  only  serve  [serve  only]  to  fill  up  a  book ;  for 
all  these  consist  merely  in  the  introduction  of  the  use  of 
the  Verb  to  have  in  its  various  parts.  In  the  above  conjuga- 
tion all  the  changes  or  variations  of  the  Verb  are  exhibited  ; 
and  it  is  those  changes  and  variations  which  [that],  under 
the  present  head,  form  the  important  object  of  our  inquiry. 

103.  The  Verbs  to  have  and  to  be  are  of  great  use  in  our 
language.  They  are  called  auxiliary  verbs.  To  let  and  to 
do  are  also  called  auxiliaries,  but  they  are  of  far  less  im- 
portance than  to  have  and  to  be.  Before,  however,  I  say 
more  on  the  subject  of  these  auxiliaries,  I  must  speak  of  all 
the  Verbs  as  regular  or  irregular,  just  observing  here  that 
the  word  auxiliary  means  helper,  or  helping. 

104.  Verbs  are  called  regular  when  they  have  their 
changes  or  variations  according  to  a  certain  rule  or  man- 
ner.    Thus :  "  I  walk,  I  walked ;  I  work,  I  worked?     But 


vin.]  OF   VERBS.  61 

I  can  not  say,  "  I  writed."  I  must  say,  "  I  wrote."  Now 
observe  that  we  call  regular  Verbs  all  those  which  [that] 
end  their  past  time  of  the  Indicative  and  their  passive  par- 
ticiple in  ed ;  and  if  you  now  look  back  at  the  conjugation 
of  the  Verb  to  work,  you  will  find  that  it  is  a  regular  Verb. 
Indeed,  this  is  the  case  with  almost  all  Verbs.  But,  there 
are  some  little  irregularities  even  here,  and  they  must  be 
very  well  attended  to,  because  a  want  of  attention  to  them 
leads  to  very  great  errors  even  as  to  spelling. 

105.  These  little  irregularities  I  shall  notice  under  five 
separate  heads  ;  and  if  you  should  forget  at  any  time  what 
has  been  said  on  the  subject,  a  reference  to  these  will  in  a 
moment  set  you  right : 

I.  The  Verb  to  work  is  perfectly  regular,  for  it  has  ed 
added  to  it  in  order  to  form  the  past  time,  and  also  in  order 
to  form  the  passive  participle.  It  is  the  same  with  the  Verbs 
to  walk,  to  turn,  to  abandon,  and  many  others.  But  if  the 
Infinitive,  that  is  to  say,  the  primitive  or  original  word,  end 
in  e,  then  d  only  is  added  in  the  past  time  and  participle, 
and  st  instead  of  est  after  thou  :  as  in  the  case  of  to  move, 
which  becomes  moved  and  movest.  You  have  seen,  also,  in 
the  case  of  the  Verb  to  work,  that  we  add  only  an  s  to  form 
the  third  person  singular  of  the  present  of  the  Indicative  : 
he  works.  But  if  the  Infinitive  end  in  h,  s,  x,  or  z,  then  es 
must  be  added  ;  as,  to  wish,  he  wishes  ;  to  toss,  he  tosses ;  to 
box,  he  boxes  ;  to  buzz,  he  buzzes. 

II.  When  the  Infinitive  ends  in^,  and  when  that  y  has 
a  consonant  immediately  before  it,  the  y  is  changed  into  ie, 
to  form  the  third  person  singular  of  the  present  of  the  In- 
dicative ;  as,  to  reply,  he  replies.  But  (and  I  beg  you  to 
mark  it  well)  if  the  ending  y  have  a  vowel  immediately  be- 
fore it,  the  Verb  follows  the  general  rule  in  the  formation 
of  the  third  person  singular  of  the  present  of  the  Indicative; 


62  E  T  YMOL  OGY  [letter 

as,  to  delay,  he  delays,  and  not  he  delaies.  It  is  the  same  in 
the  second  person  singular  ;  as,  to  reply,  thou  rep  lies t ;  to 
delay,  thou  delayest. 

III.  When  the  Infinitive  ends  in  y  with  a  consonant  im- 
mediately before  it,  the  past  time  of  the  Indicative  and  the 
passive  participle  are  formed  by  using  an  i  instead  of  the  y  ; 
as,  to  reply,  he  replied ;  to  deny,  it  was  denied.  But  if  the  y 
be  preceded  by  a  vowel,  ed  is  added  to  the  y  in  the  usual 
manner :  as,  to  delay,  he  delayed. 

IV.  The  active  participle,  which  always  ends  in  ing,  is 
in  general  formed  by  simply  adding  the  ing  to  the  Infini- 
tive ;  as,  to  work,  working ;  to  talk,  talking.  But  if  the  In- 
finitive end  in  a  single  e,  the  e  is  dropped  :  as,  to  move,  mov- 
ing. The  Verb  to  be  is  an  exception  to  this  ;  but  then  that 
is  an  irregular  Verb.  It  is  when  the  Infinitive  ends  in  a 
single  e,  mind  ;  for  if  the  e  be  double,  the  general  rule  is 
followed  ;  as,  to  free,  freeing.  When  the  Infinitive  ends  in 
ie,  those  letters  are  changed  into  y  in  the  forming  of  the 
active  participle  ;  as,  to  lie,  lying. 

V.  When  the  Infinitive  ends  in  a  single  consonant,  which 
[that]  has  a  single  vowel  immediately  before  it,  the  final  con- 
sonant is  doubled,  not  only  in  forming  the  active  participle, 
but  also  in  forming  the  past  time  of  the  Indicative,  and  the 
passive  participle  ;  as,  to  rap,  rapping ;  I  rapped,  it  was 
rapped.  But,  observe  well,  this  rule  holds  good  only  as  to 
words  of  one  syllable  ;  for  if  the  Infinitive  of  the  Verb  have 
more  than  one  syllable,  the  consonant  is  not  doubled  unless 
the  accent  be  on  the  last  syllable  ;  and  the  accent  means  the 
main  force  or  weight,  or  sound  of  the  voice  in  pronouncing 
the  word.  For  instance,  in  the  word  to  open,  the  accent  is 
on  the  first  syllable  ;  and  therefore  we  write,  opening,  opened. 
But  when  we  come  to  the  Verb  to  refer,  where  we  find  the 
accent  on  the  last  syllable,  we  write,  referring,  referred. 


VIII.] 


OF   VERBS. 


63 


106.  These  irregularities,  though  very  necessary  to  be 
attended  to,  do  not  prevent  us  from  considering  the  Verbs 
which  [that]  are  subject  to  them  as  regular  Verbs.  The 
mark  of  a  regular  Verb  is  that  its  past  time  and  passive  par- 
ticiple end  in  ed :  every  Verb  which  [that]  does  not  answer 
to  this  mark  is  irregular. 

107.  There  are  many  of  these  irregular  Verbs,  of  which 
I  shall  here  insert  a  complete  list.  All  the  irregularities 
(except  the  little  irregularities  just  mentioned)  which  [that] 
it  is  possible  to  find  in  an  English  Verb  (the  auxiliary  Verbs 
excepted)  are  in  the  past  time  and  the  passive  participle 
only.  Therefore,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  give  a  list,  show- 
ing, in  those  two  instances,  what  are  the  irregularities  of 
each  Verb  ;  and,  in  order  to  render  this  list  convenient,  and 
to  shorten  the  work  of  referring  to  it,  I  shall  make  it  alpha- 
betical. With  the  past  time  of  the  several  Verbs  I  shall  use 
the  first  person  singular  of  the  pronoun,  in  order  to  make 
my  examples  as  clear  as  possible. 


List  of  Irregular  Verbs. 


INFINITIVE. 

PAST  TIME. 

PARTICIPLES. 

to  abide, 

I  abode, 

abode. 

to  be, 

I  was, 

been. 

to  bear, 

I  bore, 

borne. 

to  beat, 

I  beat, 

beaten. 

to  become, 

I  became, 

become. 

to  befall, 

it  befell, 

befell. 

to  beget, 

I  begot, 

begotten. 

to  begin, 

I  began, 

begun. 

to  behold, 

I  beheld, 

beheld. 

to  bend, 

I  bended  [or  bent], 

bent. 

to  beseech, 

I  besought, 

besought. 

to  bid, 

I  bade, 

bidden. 

54 


ETYMOLOGY 


[letter 


INFINITIVE. 

PAST  TIME. 

PARTICIPLES. 

to  bind, 

I  bound, 

bound. 

to  bite, 

I  bit, 

bitten. 

to  bleed, 

I  bled, 

bled. 

to  break, 

I  broke, 

broken. 

to  breed, 

I  bred, 

bred. 

to  bring, 

I  brought, 

brought. 

to  buy, 

I  bought, 

bought. 

to  catch, 

I  caught, 

caught. 

to  choose, 

I  chose, 

chosen. 

to  cleave, 

I  clove, 

cloven. 

to  come, 

I  came, 

come. 

to  cost, 

I  cost, 

cost. 

to  cut, 

I  cut, 

cut. 

to  die, 

I  died, 

died. 

to  do, 

I  did, 

done. 

to  drink, 

I  drank, 

drunk. 

to  drive, 

I  drove, 

driven. 

to  eat, 

I  ate, 

eaten. 

to  fall, 

I  fell, 

fallen. 

to  feed, 

I  fed, 

fed. 

to  feel, 

I  felt, 

felt. 

to  fight, 

I  fought, 

fought. 

to  find, 

I  found, 

found. 

to  flee, 

I  fled, 

fled. 

to  fling, 

I  flung, 

flung. 

to  fly, 

I  flew, 

flown. 

to  forbear, 

I  forbore, 

forborne. 

to  forbid, 

I  forbade, 

forbidden. 

to  forget, 

I  forgot, 

forgotten. 

to  forgive, 

I  forgave, 

forgiven. 

to  forsake, 

I  forsook, 

forsake*. 

to  get, 

I  got, 

gotten  [or  got]. 

VIII.] 


OF    VERBS. 


65 


INFINITIVE. 

to  give, 
to  go, 
to  grind, 
to  have, 
to  hear, 
to  hide, 
to  hit, 
to  hold, 
to  hurt, 
to  keep, 
to  know, 
to  lay, 
to  lead, 
to  leave, 
to  lend, 
to  let, 
to  lie, 
to  lose, 
to  make, 
to  meet, 
to  overcome, 
to  overdo, 
to  pass, 
to  pay, 
to  put, 
to  read, 
to  rend, 
to  ride, 
to  ring, 
to  rise, 
to  run, 
to  say, 
5 


I  gave, 
I  went, 
I  ground, 
I  had, 
I  heard, 
I  hid, 
I  hit, 
I  held, 
I  hurt, 
I  kept, 
I  knew, 
I  laid, 
lied, 
I  left, 
I  lent, 
I  let, 
Hay, 
I  lost, 
I  made, 
I  met, 
I  overcame, 
I  overdid, 
I  passed, 
I  paid, 
I  put, 
I  read, 
I  rent, 
I  rode, 
I  rang, 
I  rose, 
I  ran, 
I  said, 


PARTICIPLES. 

given. 

gone. 

ground. 

had. 

heard. 

hidden. 

hit. 

held. 

hurt. 

kept. 

known. 

laid. 

led. 

left. 

lent. 

let. 

lain. 

lost. 

made. 

met. 

overcome. 

overdone. 

past  [or  passed], 

paid. 

put. 

read. 

rent. 

ridden. 

rung. 

risen. 

run. 

said. 


66 


ETYMOLOGY 


[letter 


INFINITIVE. 

to  see, 
to  seek, 
to  sell, 
to  send, 
to  set, 
to  shake, 
to  shear, 
to  shed, 
to  show, 
to  shrink, 
to  shoe, 
to  shoot, 
to  shut, 
to  sing, 
to  sink, 
to  sit, 
to  slay, 
to  sleep, 
to  slide, 
to  slit, 
to  smite, 
to  speak, 
to  speed, 
to  spend, 
to  spin, 
to  spit, 
to  spread, 
to  stand, 
to  steal, 
to  stick, 
to  stink, 
to  strike, 


PAST  TIME. 

PARTICIPLES, 

I  saw, 

seen. 

I  sought, 

sought. 

I  sold, 

sold. 

I  sent, 

sent. 

I  set, 

set. 

I  shook, 

shaken. 

I  sheared, 

shorn  [01  sheared]. 

I  shed, 

shed. 

I  showed, 

shown. 

I  shrank, 

shrunk. 

I  shod, 

shod. 

I  shot, 

shotten  [shot]. 

I  shut, 

shut. 

I  sang, 

sung. 

I  sank, 

sunk. 

I  sat, 

sitten  [sat]. 

I  slew, 

slain. 

I  slept, 

slept. 

I  slid, 

slidden  [slid]. 

I  slit, 

slit. 

I  smote, 

smitten. 

I  spoke, 

spoken. 

I  sped, 

sped. 

I  spent, 

spent. 

I  span  [or  spun], 

spun. 

I  spat  [or  spit], 

spitten  [spit]. 

I  spread, 

spread. 

I  stood, 

stood. 

I  stole, 

stolen. 

I  stuck, 

stuck. 

I  stunk, 

stunk. 

I  struck, 

stricken  for  struckl 

VIII.] 

OF    VERBS. 

6: 

INFINITIVE. 

PAST  TIME. 

PARTICIPLES. 

to  swear, 

I  swore, 

sworn. 

to  take, 

I  took, 

taken. 

to  teach, 

I  taught, 

taught. 

to  tear, 

I  tore, 

torn. 

to  tell, 

I  told, 

told. 

to  think, 

I  thought, 

thought. 

to  tread, 

I  trod, 

trodden  [or  trod}. 

to  understand, 

I  understood, 

understood. 

to  wear, 

I  wore, 

worn. 

to  win, 

I  won, 

won. 

to  wind, 

I  wound, 

wound. 

to  write, 

I  wrote, 

written. 

108.  It  is  usual  with  Grammarians  to  insert  several 
Verbs  in  their  List  of  Irregulars  which  [that]  I  have  not 
inserted  here.  But  I  have,  in  the  above  list,  placed  every 
Verb  in  our  language  which  [that]  is  really  irregular. 
However,  I  will  here  subjoin  a  list  of  those  Verbs  which 
[that]  are,  by  some  Grammarians,  reckoned  irregular  ;  and 
then  I  will  show  you,  not  only  that  they  are  not  irregular, 
strictly  speaking,  but  that  you  ought  by  all  means  to  use 
them  in  a  regular  form. 

List  of  Verbs  which  [that],  by  some  Persons,  are 
erroneously  deemed  irregulars. 


INFINITIVE. 

to  awake, 
to  bereave, 
to  blow, 
to  build, 
to  burn, 
to  burst, 
to  cast, 


PAST  TIME. 


PARTICIPLES. 


I  awoke  [or  awaked],  awaked  [or  awoke]. 
I  bereft  [or  bereaved],  bereft  [or  bereaved]. 


I  blew, 

I  built  [or  builded], 

I  burnt  [or  burned], 

I  burst, 

I  cast, 


blown. 

built  [or  builded]. 

burnt  [or  burned], 

burst. 

cast. 


68 


ETYMO'JOGY 


[letter 


INFINITIVE. 

PAST  TIME. 

PARTICIPLES. 

to  chide, 

I  chid, 

chidden. 

to  cling, 

I  clung, 

clung. 

to  creep, 

I  crept, 

crept. 

to  crow, 

I  crew, 

crowed. 

to  curse, 

I  curst  [or  cursed], 

curst  [or  cursed]. 

to  dare. 

I  dared, 

dared. 

to  deal, 

I  dealt, 

dealt. 

to  dig, 

I  dug  [or  digged], 

dug  [or  digged]. 

to  dip, 

I  dipt  [or  dipped], 

dipt  [or  dipped]. 

to  draw, 

I  drew, 

drawn. 

to  dream, 

I  dreamt  [or  dreamed] 

,  dreamt  [or  dreamed], 

to  dwell, 

I  dwelt, 

dwelt. 

to  freeze, 

I  froze, 

frozen. 

to  geld, 

I  gelt, 

gelt. 

to  gild, 

I  gilt  [or  gilded], 

gilt  [or  gilded]. 

to  gird, 

I  girt, 

girt. 

to  grow, 

I  grew, 

grown. 

to  hang, 

I  hung, 

hung. 

to  help, 

I  helpt  [or  helped], 

helpt  [or  helped]. 

to  hew, 

I  hewed, 

hewn. 

to  kneel, 

I  knelt, 

knelt. 

to  knit, 

I  knit  [or  knitted], 

knit  [or  knitted]. 

to  lade, 

I  laded, 

laden  [or  laded]. 

to  leap, 

I  leaped, 

leapt  [or  leaped]. 

to  light, 

I  lit  [or  lighted], 

light  [?],  [lighted]. 

to  load, 

I  loaded, 

loaden  or  laden  [befc 
ter,  loaded]. 

to  mean, 

I  meant, 

meant. 

to  mow, 

I  mowed, 

mown. 

to  overflow, 

I  overflowed, 

overflown  [?]. 

to  saw, 

I  sawed, 

sawn  [or  sawed]. 

to  shave, 

I  shaved, 

shaven  [or  shaved], 

VIII.] 


OF    VERBS. 


69 


INFINITIVE.  PAST  TIME. 

to  shine,  I  shone, 

to  shred,  I  shred, 

to  sling,  I  slung, 

to  slink,  I  slunk, 

to  slip,  I  slipt  [or  slipped], 

to  smell,  I  smelt  [or  smelled], 

to  snow,  it  snowed, 

to  sow,  I  sowed, 

to  spell,  I  spelt  [or  spelled], 

to  spill,  I  spilt  [or  spilled], 

to  split,  I  split, 

to  spring,  I  sprang, 

to  stamp,  I  stampt  [or  stamped], 

to  sting,  I  stung  or  stang, 

to  strew,  I  strewed, 

to  stride,  I  strode, 

to  string,  I  strung, 

to  strip,  I  stript  [or  stripped], 

to  strive,  I  strove, 

to  strow,  I  strowed, 

to  sweep,  I  swept, 

to  swell,  I  swelled, 

to  swim,  I  swam, 

to  swing,  I  swung  or  swang, 

to  thrive,  I  throve, 

to  throw,  I  threw, 

to  thrust,  I  thrust, 

to  wax,  I  waxed, 

to  weave,  I  wove, 

to  weep,  I  wept, 

to  whip,  I  whipt  [orwhipped], 


PARTICIPLES. 

shone. 

shred. 

slung. 

slunk. 

slipt  [or  slipped]. 

smelt  [or  smelled], 

snown  [snowed]. 

sown  [or  sowed]. 

spelt  [or  spelled]. 

spilt  [or  spilled]. 

split. 

sprung. 

stampt  [or  stamped], 

stung. 

strewn. 

stridden. 

strung. 

stript  [or  stripped]. 

striven. 

strown. 

swept. 

swollen  [or  swelled], 

swum. 

swung. 

thriven. 

thrown. 

thrust. 

waxen  [waxed], 

woven. 

wept. 

whipt  [or  whipped]. 


70  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

109.  The  greater  part  of  these  verbs  have  become  ir< 
regular  by  the  bad  practice  of  abbreviating  or  shortening  in 
writing.  We  are  always  given  to  cut  our  words  short ;  and, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  you  find  people  writing  lov'd, 
movd,  walk'd  ;  instead  of  loved,  moved,  walked.  They 
wish  to  make  the  pen  correspond  with  the  tongue  ;  but  they 
ought  not  then  to  write  the  word  the  at  full  length,  nor  the 
word  of,  nor  any  other  little  word  ;  for  scarcely  ever  are 
these  words  fully  sounded  in  speaking.  From  lov'd,  movd, 
walk'd,  it  is  very  easy  to  slide  into  lovt,  movt,  walkt.  And 
this  has  been  the  case  with  regard  to  curst,  dealt,  dwelt, 
leapt,  helpt,  and  many  others  in  the  last  inserted  list.  It  is 
just  as  proper  to  say  jumpt,  as  it  is  to  say  leapt ;  and  just  as 
proper  to  say  walkt  as  either  ;  and  thus  we  might  go  on,  till 
the  orthography  of  the  whole  language  were  changed. 
When  the  love  of  contraction  came  to  operate  on  such  Verbs 
as  to  burst  and  to  light,  it  found  such  a  clump  of  consonants 
already  at  the  end  of  the  words  that  it  could  add  none. 
It  could  not  enable  the  organs  even  of  English  speech  to 
pronounce  burst'd,  light'd.  It  therefore  made  really  short 
work  of  it,  and,  dropping  the  last  syllable  altogether,  wrote 
burst  and  light  in  the  past  time  and  passive  participle.  But 
is  it  not  more  harmonious,  as  well  as  more  correct,  to  say, 
"The  bubble  is  almost  bursted,"  than  it  is  to  say,  "The 
bubble  is  almost  burst?"  And  as  to  hang,  is  it  not  better 
to  say  hanged  than  hung?  "  I  will  be  hanged  if  I  do,"  is  a 
very  common  phrase  ;  and  is  it  not  better  than  it  would  be 
to  say,  "  I  will  be  hung  if  I  do  "  ?  Many  of  these  Verbs, 
by  being  very  difficult  to  contract,  have,  as  in  the  case  of  to 
hang,  to  swing,  and  the  like,  reduced  the  shorteners  to  the 
necessity  of  changing  almost  all  the  letters  of  the  words  : 
as,  to  dare,  durst :  but,  is  it  not  better  to  say  I  dared  than 
I  durst?     This  LaMt  of  contracting  or  shortening  is  a  verv 


vni.]  OF   VERBS.  71 

mischievous  habit.  It  leads  to  the  destruction  of  all  pro* 
priety  in  the  use  of  letters  ;  and  instead  of  a  saving  of  time, 
it  produces,  by  the  puzzling  that  it  gives  rise  to,  a  great  loss 
of  time.  Hoping  that  what  I  have  here  said  will  be  a  warn- 
ing to  you  against  the  cutting  of  words  short,  I  have  only  to 
add,  on  the  subject  of  irregular  verbs,  that  those  in  the  last 
list  are  to  be  used  in  the  regular  form,  and  that  the  only 
real  irregulars  are  those  of  the  first  list.  Nay,  I  have,  after 
all,  left  some  Verbs  in  the  first  list  which  [that]  may  be  used 
in  the  regular  form  :  as,  past,  which  may  be,  in  the  partici- 
ple, passed,  and  with  full  as  much  propriety. 

110.  AUXILIARY  VERBS.— In  the  present  Letter, 
paragraph  103,  I  open  this  part  of  my  subject.  The  word 
let  is  the  past  time  and  the  passive  participle  of  the  Verb  to 
let.  It  is  used  as  an  auxiliary,  however,  in  the  present  time  ; 
and  only  in  the  imperative  mode  :  as,  Let  me  go  ;  let  us  go  ; 
let  him  go.  That  is  to  say,  Leave  me  to  go,  leave  us  to  gor 
leave  him  to  go.  Perhaps  the  meaning,  fully  expressed, 
would  be,  Act  in  such  a  way  that  I  may  be  left  to  go,  or 
suffered  to  go. 

111.  The  auxiliary  do,  which,  for  the  past  time,  becomes 
did,  is  part  of  the  Verb  to  do,  which  in  its  past  time  is  did, 
and  in  its  passive  participle  done.  In  this  sense,  it  is  not  an 
auxiliary  but  a  principal  Verb,  and  its  meaning  is  equal  to 
that  of  to  execute,  or  to  perform  :  as,  I  do  my  work,  I  execute 
my  work,  I  perform  my  work.  As  an  auxiliary  or  helper, 
it  seems  to  denote  the  time  of  the  principal  Verb  :  as,  I  do 
walk  ;  I  did  walk  ;  and,  we  may  say,  I  do  execute  my  work% 
or,  I  do  do  my  work.  In  this  last  example,  the  first  do  is  an 
auxiliary,  and  the  last  do  a  principal  Verb.  However,  as  I 
said  before,  do  and  did,  used  as  auxiliaries,  do  a  great  deal 
more  than  merely  express  time.  In  fact,  they  are  not  often 
used  for  that  purpose  only.     They  are  used  for  the  purpose 


72  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

of  affirming  or  denying  in  a  manner  peculiarly  strong :  as, 
I  do  work,  means,  that  I  work,  notwithstanding  all  that 
may  be,  or  may  have  been  said,  or  thought,  to  the  contrary  ; 
or  it  means,  that  I  work  now,  and  have  not  done  it  at  some 
other  stated  or  supposed  time.  It  is  the  same,  with  the  ex. 
ception  of  time,  as  to  the  use  of  did.  These  are  among 
those  little  words  of  vast  import,  the  proper  force  and  use 
of  which  foreigners  scarcely  ever  learn,  and  which  we  learn 
from  our  very  infancy. 

112.  The  Verbs  to  have  and  to  be  are  the  two  great 
auxiliaries.  These  words  demand  an  extraordinary  portion 
of  your  attention.  They  are  /;  incipal  Verbs  as  well  as  aux* 
iliaries.  The  Verb  to  have,  as  a  principal  Verb,  signifies 
possession  :  as,  /  have  a  pen,  that  is  to  say,  I  possess  a  pen. 
Then,  this  is  a  word  of  very  great  use  indeed  in  its  capacity 
of  principal  Verb  ;  for  we  say,  /  have  a  headache,  I  have  a 
hatred  of  such  a  thing,  /  have  a  mind  to  go  ;  and  hundreds 
of  similar  phrases.  I  possess  a  headache  has  the  same  mean- 
ing ;  but  the  other  is  more  agreeable  to  the  natural  turn  of 
our  language.  As  auxiliary  this  Verb  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary in  forming  what  are  called  the  compound  times  of  other 
Verbs,  and  those  times  are  called  compound  because  they 
ace  formed  of  two  or  more  Verbs.  Suppose  the  subject  to 
be  of  my  working,  and  that  I  want  to  tell  you  that  my  work 
is  ended,  that  I  have  closed  my  work,  I  can  not,  in  a  short 
manner,  tell  you  this  without  the  help  of  the  Verb  to  have. 
To  say,  /  work,  or  /  worked,  or  /  will  work  ;  these  will  not 
answer  my  purpose.  No :  I  must  call  in  the  help  of  the 
Verb  to  have,  and  tell  you  I  have  worked.  So,  in  the  case 
of  the  past  time,  I  must  say,  I  had  worked  ;  in  the  future, 
I  shall  have  worked  ;  in  the  subjunctive  mode,  I  must  say, 
I  may,  might,  could,  or  should  have  worked.  If  you  reflect 
a  little,  you  will  find  a  clear  reason  for  employing  the  Verb 


viil]  OF   VERBS.  73 

to  have  in  this  way  ;  for  when  I  say,  "  I  have  worked,"  my 
words  amount  to  this  :  that  the  act  of  working  is  now  in  my 
possession.  It  is  completed.  It  is  a  thing  /  own,  and  there- 
fore I  say,  /  have  it. 

113.  The  Verb  to  be  signifies  existence,  when  used  as  a 
principal  Verb.  "  To  be  ill,  to  be  well,  to  be  rich,  to  be  poor,'" 
mean  to  exist  in  illness,  in  health,  in  riches,  in  poverty. 
This  Verb,  in  its  compound  times,  requires  the  help  of  the 
Verb  to  have :  as,  I  have  been,  I  had  been,  I  shall  havt 
been,  and  so  on.  As  auxiliary,  this  Verb  is  used  with  the 
participles  of  other  Verbs  :  as,  to  be  working,  he  is  working, 
it  is  worked.  Now  you  will  perceive,  if  you  reflect,  that 
these  phrases  mean  as  follows  :  existing-  in  work,  he  exists 
in  work,  it  exists  in  a  worked  state.  Both  these  Verbs  are 
sometimes  used,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  as  auxiliaries  to 
other  principal  Verbs  :  as,  I  have  been  writing ;  I  have 
been  imprisoned ;  and  so  on  ;  and,  upon  patient  attention 
to  what  has  already  been  said,  you  will  find  that  they  re- 
tain upon  all  occasions  their  full  meaning,  of  possession  in 
the  one  case,  and  of  existence  in  the  other. 

114.  Now,  my  dear  James,  if  I  have  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing clear  to  you  the  principle  out  of  which  the  use  of  these 
words,  as  auxiliaries,  has  arisen,  I  have  accomplished  a  great 
deal ;  for,  if  well  grounded  in  that  principle,  all  the  subse- 
quent difficulties  will  speedily  vanish  before  you. 

115.  I  now  proceed  to  close  this  long  and  important 
Letter,  by  presenting  to  you  the  conjugation  of  these  two 
Verbs,  both  of  which  are  irregular,  and  every  irregularity  is 
worthy  of  your  strict  attention. 


74  E  T  YMOLOG  Y  [letter 

INFINITIVE    MODE. 

To  Have. 


INDICATIVE    MODE. 

C  ist 

)  2d 


Singular.  Plural. 

.  ist  Person.     I  have,  We  have. 

)  2d  Person.     Thou  hast,       [hath,  You  have. 

(  3d  Person.     He,  she,  or  it  has,  or  They  have. 


(  —  I  had,  We  had. 


Past 

Thou  hadst,  You  had. 


Time,  j 


He,  she,  or  it  had,  They  had. 

(  —  I  shall,  or  will  have,  We  shall,  or  will  have. 

-? — Thou  shalt,  or  wilt  have,  You  shall,  or  will  have. 

(  —  He,  she,  or  it  shall,  or  will  They  shall,  or  will  have, 
have, 

SUBJUNCTIVE    MODE, 
f  If  I  have,  or  may,  might,  could,  or  should  have. 

J   If  thou  have,  or  may  have. 

Present   j    If  he,  she,  or  it  have,  or  may  have. 

Time,     j    If  we  have,  or  may have. 

I    If  you  have,  or  may  . have. 

[  If  they  have,  or  may  have. 

IMPERATIVE  MODE. 

Let  me  have,  Let  us  have. 

Have  thou,  Have  you. 

Let  him,  her,  or  it  have,  Let  them  have. 

PARTICIPLES. 

Active. — Having. 
Passive. — Had. 

116.  Though  I  have  inserted  hath  in  the  third  person 
singular  of  the  present  of  the  indicative,  it  is  hardly  evef 
used.    It  is  out  of  date,  and  ought  to  be  wholly  laid  aside. 


VIII.] 


OF    VERBS. 


75 


117.  The  Verb  to  be  is  still  more  irregular,  but  a  little 

attention  to  its  irregularities  will  prevent  all  errors  in  the 

use  of  it. 

INFINITIVE    MODE. 

To  Be. 
INDICATIVE    MODE. 

Singular.  Plural. 

(  i st  Person.     I  am,  We  are. 

}  2d  Person.     Thou  art,  You  are. 

(  3d  Person.     He,  she,  or  it  is,  They  are. 

(  —  I  was,  We  were. 

_.         <  —  Thou  wast,  You  were. 

Time,  i 

(  —  He,  she,  or  it  was,  They  were. 

_,  (  —  I  shall,  or  will  be,  We  shall,  or  will  be. 

Future  \ 

_,.        <  —  Thou  shalt,  or  wilt  be,  You  shall,  or  will  be. 

(  —  He,  she,  or  it  shall,  or  will  be,    They  shall,  or  will  be 

SUBJUNCTIVE   MODE. 
f  If  I  be,  or  may,  might,  could,  would,  or  should  be. 


If  thou  be,  or  may 


Present  J   If  he,  she,  or  it  be,  or  may 

Time.    >   If  we  be,  or  may  

If  you  be,  or  may 


[_  If  they  be,  or  may 


be. 
be. 
be. 
be. 
be. 


Past  Time.  «J 


If  I  were. 

If  thou  wert. 

If  he,  she,  or  it  were. 

If  we  were. 

If  you  were. 

If  they  were. 

IMPERATIVE  MODE. 
Let  me  be,  Let  us  be. 

Be  thou,  Be  you. 

Let  him,  her,  or  it  be,  Let  them  be. 


f6  ETYMOLOGY  [letter 

PARTICIPLES. 

Present. — Being. 
Past.— Been. 

118.  In  the  Subjunctive  Mode  I  have  made  use  of  the 
conjunction  if  throughout  all  the  conjugations  of  Verbs. 
But  a  Verb  may  be  in  that  mode  without  an  if  before  it. 
[And  a  verb  may  have  an  if  before  it,  and  yet  be  properly 
in  the  Indicative  Mode.]  The  if  is  only  one  of  the  marks 
of  that  mode.  A  Verb  is  always  in  that  mode  when  the 
action  or  state  of  being  expressed  by  the  Verb  is  expressed 
conditionally \  or  when  the  action  or  state  of  being  is,  in 
sdme  way  or  other,  dependent  on  some  other  action  or  state 
of  being.  But  of  this  I  shall  speak  more  at  large  when  I 
come  to  the  Syntax  of  Verbs. 

119.  There  remain  a  few  words  to  be  said  about  the 
signs,  the  defective  Verbs,  and  the  impersonal  Verbs.  The 
signs,  may,  might,  can,  could,  will,  would,  shall,  should,  and 
must,  have  all,  originally,  been  Verbs,  though  they  are  now 
become  defective  in  almost  all  their  parts,  and  serve  only 
as  signs  to  other  Verbs.  Will,  indeed,  is  part  of  a  regular 
Verb  :  as,  to  will,  they  willed,  they  are  willing,  they  will  be 
willing.  The  word  would  is  certainly  the  past  time  and 
passive  participle  of  the  same  Verb  ;  and,  indeed,  it  is  used 
as  a  principal  Verb  now,  in  certain  cases :  as,  "  I  would  he 
were  rich.''  That  is  to  say,  I  desire,  or  am  willing,  or,  it  is 
my  will,  that  he  should  be  rich.  But  deep  inquiries  re- 
garding the  origin  of  these  words  are  more  curious  than 
useful.  A  mere  idea  of  the  nature  of  their  origin  is  enough. 
The  Verb  ought  is  a  Verb  defective,  in  most  of  its  parts. 
It  certainly,  however,  is  no  other  than  a  part  of  the  Verb 
to  o-ve,  and  is  become  ought  by  corruption.  For  instance : 
"  I  ought  to  write  to  you,"  means  that  "  I  owe  the  per 


viii.]  OF   VERBS.  *11 

formance  of  the  act  of  writing  to  you."  Ought  is  made 
use  of  only  in  the  present  time,  and  for  that  reason  a  great 
deal  has  been  lost  to  our  language  by  this  corruption.  As 
to  the  Verbs  which  [that]  some  grammarians  have  called 
impersonal,  there  are,  in  fact,  no  such  things  in  the  English 
language.  By  impersonal  Verb  is  meant  a  Verb  that  has 
no  noun  or  pronoun  for  its  nominative  case  ;  no  person  or 
thing  that  is  the  actor,  or  receiver  of  an  action,  or  that  is  in 
being.  Thus  :  "  it  rains"  is  by  some  called  an  impersonal 
Verb  ;  but  the  pronoun  it  represents  the  person.  Look 
-again  at  Letter  VI,  and  at  paragraphs  60  and  61.  You  will 
there  find  what  it  is  that  this  it,  in  such  cases,  represents. 

[According  to  some  other  grammarians,  the  impersonal 
verbs  are  verbs  defective  in  the  persons,  being  used  only  in 
the  third  person  singular.] 

120.  Thus  I  have  concluded  my  Letter  on  the  Etymol- 
ogy of  Verbs,  which  is  by  far  the  most  important  part  of 
the  subject.  Great  as  have  been  my  endeavors  to  make 
the  matter  clear  to  you,  I  am  aware,  that,  after  the  first 
reading  of  this  Letter,  your  mind  will  be  greatly  confused. 
You  will  have  had  a  glimpse  at  everything  in  the  Letter, 
but  will  have  seen  nothing  clearly.  But,  my  dear  James, 
lay  the  book  aside  for  a  day  or  two  ;  then  read  the  whole 
Letter  again  and  again.  Read  it  early,  while  your  mind 
is  clear,  and  while  sluggards  are  snoring.  Write  it  down. 
Lay  it  aside  for  another  day  or  two.  Copy  your  own  writ- 
ing. Think  as  you  proceed  ;  and,  at  the  end  of  your  copy- 
ing, you  will  understand  clearly  all  the  contents  of  the  Let* 
ter.  Do  not  attempt  to  study  the  Letter  piece  by  piece. 
In  ycur  readings,  as  well  as  in  your  copyings,  go  clean 
throughout.  If  you  follow  these  instructions,  the  remain 
ing  pait  of  your  task  will  be  very  easy  and  pleasant. 


78  E  T  YMOLOG  Y  [letteb 


LETTER   IX. 

ETYMOLOGY    OF    ADVERBS. 

121.  In  Letter  III,  and  in  paragraphs  27  and  28,  you 
will  find  a  description  of  this  Part  of  Speech.  Read  again 
those  two  paragraphs,  in  order  to  refresh  your  memory. 
There  is  not  much  to  be  said  about  Adverbs  under  the 
head  of  Etymology.  They  are  words  liable  to  few  varia- 
tions. Adverbs  are  very  numerous,  and  may  be  divided 
into  five  principal  classes  :  that  is  to  say,  Adverbs  of  lime, 
of  place,  of  order,  of  quality,  and  of  manner.  This  last 
class,  which  is  the  most  numerous,  is  composed  of  those 
which  [that]  are  derived  immediately  from  adjectives,  and 
which  [that]  end  in  ly  :  as,  especially,  particularly,  thank- 
fully. 

122.  These  Adverbs,  ending  in  ly,  are,  for  the  most 
part,  formed  by  simply  adding  ly  to  the  adjective:  as,  espe- 
cialbecomes  especially  ;  but,  if  the  adjective  end  \ny,  that 
y  is  changed  into  i  in  forming  the  Adverb  :  as,  happy,  hap- 
pily ;  steady,  steadily.  If  the  adjective  end  in  le,  the  e  is 
dropped  in  forming  the  Adverb  :  as,  possible,  possibly. 

123.  Some  few  Adverbs  have  degrees  of  comparison  : 
as,  often,  oftener,  oftenest ;  and  those  which  [that]  are  de- 
rived from  irregular  adjectives,  are  irregular  in  forming 
their  degrees  of  comparison :  as,  tuell,  better,  best. 

124.  Some  Adverbs  are  simple  or  single ;  others  com- 
pound. The  former  consist  of  one  word,  the  latter  of  two 
or  more  words:  as,  happily;  at  present j  now-a-days ; 
which  last  means  at  the  days  that  now  are.  Another  Ad- 
verb of  this  description  is,  by-and-by ;  which  is  used  to 
express,  in  a  short  time ;  and  literally  it  means  near  and 
near ;  because  by  itself,  as  an  Adverb,  means,  near,  close, 


X.]  OF  PREPOSITIONS.  79 

beside.  When  Adverbs  are  compound,  the  words  compos- 
ing them  ought  to  [should]  be  connected  by  a  hyphen,  or 
hyphens,  as  in  the  above  examples  of  now-a-days  and  by- 
and-by. 

[Ought — Should.  These  two  words,  though  they  both 
imply  obligation,  should  not  be  used  indiscriminately. 
Ought  is  the  stronger  term  ;  what  we  ought  to  do,  we  are 
morally  bound  to  do.     We  ought  to  be  truthful  and  honest.] 


LETTER   X. 

ETYMOLOGY    OF    PREPOSITIONS. 

125.  Letter  III,  paragraphs  29  and  30,  has  taught  you 
of  what  description  of  words  Prepositions  are.  The  chief 
use  of  them  is  to  express  the  different  relations  or  connec- 
tions, which  [that]  nouns  have  with  each  other  [one  another], 
or,  in  which  nouns  stand  with  regard  to  each  other  [one 
another]  :  as,  John  gives  money  to  Peter  ;  Peter  receives 
money  front  John.  It  is  useless  to  attempt  to  go  into  curi- 
ous inquiries  as  to  the  otigin  of  Prepositions.  They  never 
change  their  endings  ;  they  are  always  written  in  the  same 
manner.  Their  use  is  the  main  thing  to  be  considered  ; 
and  that  will  become  very  clear  to  you,  when  you  come  to 
the  Syntax. 

126.  There  are  two  abbreviations  or  shortenings,  of 
Prepositions,  which  I  will  notice  here,  because  they  are 
in  constant  use,  and  may  excite  doubts  in  your  mind. 
These  are  a  and  o' :  as,  I  am  a  hunting  ;  he  is  a  coming  ; 
it  is  one  o'clock.  The  a  thus  added,  is  at,  without  doubt : 
as,  I  am  at  hunting  ;  he  is  at  coming.  Generally  this  is  a 
vulgar  and  redundant  manner  of  speaking  ;  but  it  is  in  use. 


So  ET  YMOLOG  Y  [letter 

In  mercantile  accounts  you  will  frequently  see  this  a  made 
use  of  in  a  very  odd  sort  of  way :  as,  "  Six  bales  marked 
I  a  6."  The  merchant  means,  "  Six  bales  marked  from  I 
to  6."  But  this  I  take  to  be  a  relic  of  the  Norman  French, 
which  was  once  the  law  and  mercantile  language  of  Eng- 
land ;  for,  in  French,  a,  with  an  accent,  means  to  or  at.  I 
wonder  that  merchants,  who  are  generally  men  of  sound 
sense,  do  not  discontinue  the  use  of  this  mark  of  affectation. 
And,  I  beg  you,  my  dear  James,  to  bear  in  mind,  that  the 
only  use  of  words  is  to  cause  our  meaning  to  be  clearly  un- 
derstood;  and  that  the  best  words  are  those  which  [that] 
are  familiar  to  the  ears  of  the  greatest  number  of  persons. 
The  o\  with  the  mark  of  elision,  means,  of,  or  of  the,  or  on, 
or  on  the  ;  as,  two  o'clock,  is  the  same  as  to  say  two  of  the 
clock,  or  two  according  to  the  clock,  or  two  on  the  clock. 

127.  As  to  the  Prepositions  which  [that]  are  joined  to 
verbs  or  other  words  ;  as,  to  outlive,  to  undei'value,  to  be 
overdone,  it  would  be  to  waste  our  time  to  spend  it  in  any 
statements  about  them  ;  for,  these  are  other  words  than  to 
live,  to  value,  to  be  done.  If  we  were  to  go,  in  this  way, 
into  the  subject  of  the  composition  of  words,  where  should 
we  stop  ?  Thankful,  thankless,  without,  within  ;  these  are 
all  compound  words,  but,  of  what  use  to  us  to  enter  on,  and 
[to]  spend  our  time  in,  inquiries  of  mere  curiosity?  It  is 
for  monks  and  for  Fellows  of  English  Colleges,  who  live  by 
the  sweat  of  other  people's  brows,  to  spend  their  time  in 
this  manner,  and  to  call  the  result  of  their  studies  learning ; 
for  you,  who  will  have  to  earn  what  you  eat  and  what  you 
drink  and  what  you  wear,  it  is  to  avoid  everything  that  tends 
not  to  real  utility. 


XI. }  OF   CONJUNCTIONS.  8 1 

LETTER    XI. 

ETYMOLOGY   OF    CONJUNCTIONS. 

128.  In  Letter  III,  paragraph  31,  you  have  had  a  de= 
scription  of  this  sort  of  words,  and  also  some  account  of  the 
uses  of  them.  Some  of  them  are  called  copulative  Conjunc- 
tions, and  others  disjunctive.  They  all  serve  to  join  together 
words,  or  parts  of  sentences  ;  but  the  former  express  an  [a] 
union  in  the  actions,  or  states  of  being,  expressed  by  the 
verb  ;  as,  you  and  I  talk.  The  latter  a  disunion ;  as,  you 
talk,  but  I  act.  The  words  of  this  Part  of  Speech  never 
vary  in  their  endings.  They  are  always  spelled  in  one  and 
the  same  way.  In  themselves  they  present  no  difficulty ; 
but,  as  you  will  see  by-and-by,  to  use  them  properly,  with 
other  words,  in  the  forming  of  sentences,  demands  a  due 
portion  of  your  attention  and  care. 


LETTER    XII. 

CAUTIONARY    REMARKS. 


My  dear  James: 

129.  Before  we  enter  on  Syntax,  let  me  give  you  a 
caution  or  two  with  regard  to  the  contents  of  the  foregoing 
LETTERS. 

130.  There  are  some  words  which  [that],  under  differ- 
ent circumstances,  belong  to  more  than  one  Part  of  Speech, 
as,  indeed,  you  have  seen  in  the  Participles.  But  this  is  by 
no  means  confined  to  that  particular  description  of  words. 
I  act.  Here  act  is  a  verb  ;  but  the  act  performed  by  me 
shows  the  very  same  word  in  the  capacity  of  a  noun.  The 
message  was  sent  by  him  ;  he  stood  by  at  the  time.     In  the 


82  CAUTIONARY  REMARKS.         [letter 

first  of  these  examples  by  is  a.  preposition  ;  in  the  last  an 
adverb.  Mind,  therefore,  that  it  is  the  sense  in  which  the 
word  is  used,  and  not  the  letters  of  which  it  is  composed,  that 
determines  what  is  the  Part  of  Speech  to  which  it  belongs. 

131.  Never  attempt  to  get  by  rote  any  part  of  your  in- 
structions. Whoever  falls  into  that  practice  soon  begins  to 
esteem  the  powers  of  memory  more  than  those  of  reason  ; 
and  the  former  are  despicable  indeed  when  compared  with 
the  latter.  When  the  fond  parents  of  an  eighth  wonder  of 
the  world  call  him  forth  into  the  middle  of  the  parlor  to 
repeat  to  their  visitors  some  speech  of  a  play,  how  angry 
would  they  be  if  any  one  were  to  tell  them  that  their  son's 
endowments  equaled  those  of  a  parrot  or  a  bullfinch  !  Yet 
a  German  bird-teacher  would  make  either  of  these  more 
perfect  in  these  [this?]  species  of  oratory.  It  is  this  mode 
of  teaching,  which  [that]  is  practiced  in  the  great  schools, 
that  assists  very  much  in  making  dunces  of  Lords  and 
Country  Squires.  They  "get  their  lessons  "  ;  that  is  to  say, 
they  repeat  the  words  of  it :  but,  as  to  its  sense  and  mean- 
ing, they  seldom  have  any  understanding.  This  operation 
is  sometimes,  for  what  reason  I  know  not,  called  getting  a 
thing  by  heart.  It  must,  I  should  think,  mean  by  hear't ; 
that  is  to  say,  by  hear  it.  That  a  person  may  get  and  re- 
tain and  repeat  a  lesson  in  this  way,  without  any  effort  of 
the  mind,  is  very  clear  from  the  fact,  of  which  we  have 
daily  proof,  that  people  sing  the  words  and  the  tune  of  a 
song  with  perfect  correctness,  at  the  very  time  that  they  are 
most  seriously  thinking  and  debating  in  their  minds  about 
matters  of  great  importance  to  them. 

132.  I  have  cautioned  you  before  against  studying  the 
foregoing  instructions  piecemeal ;  that  is  to  say,  a  little  bit 
at  a  time.  Read  a  letter  all  through  at  once  ;  and,  now 
that  you  have  come  to  the  end  of  my  instructions  on  Ety- 


XTI.]  SYNTAX  GENERALLY  CONSIDERED.    S3 

mology,  read  all  the  Letters  through  at  once  :  do  this  re- 
peatedly ;  taking  care  to  proceed  slowly  and  carefully ; 
and,  at  the  end  of  a  few  days,  all  the  matters  treated  of 
will  form  a  connected  whole  in  your  mind. 

133.  Before  you  proceed  to  the  Syntax,  try  yourself  a 
little,  thus  :  copy  a  short  sentence  from  any  book.  Then 
write  down  the  words,  one  by  one,  and  write  against  each 
what  Part  of  Speech  you  think  it  belongs  to.  Then  look 
for  each  word  in  the  dictionary,  where  you  will  find  the 
several  Parts  of  Speech  denoted  by  little  letters  after  the 
word  :  s.  is  for  substantive,  or  noun  ;  pro.  for  pronoun  ;  a, 
for  article  ;  v.  a.  for  verb  active  ;  v.  n.  for  verb  neuter  ; 
adj.  for  adjective  ;  adv.  for  adverb  ;  pre.  for  preposition  ; 
con.  for  conjunction  ;  int.  for  interjection.  It  will  give  you 
great  pleasure  and  encouragement  when  you  find  that  you 
are  right.  If  you  be  [are]  sometimes  wrong,  this  will  only 
urge  you  to  renewed  exertion.  You  will  be  proud  to  see 
that,  without  any  one  at  your  elbow,  you  have  really  ac- 
quired something  which  [that]  you  can  never  lose.  You 
will  begin,  and  with  reason,  to  think  yourself  learned  ;  your 
sight,  though  the  objects  will  still  appear  a  good  deal  con- 
fused, will  dart  into  every  part  of  the  science  ;  and  you  wall 
pant  to  complete  what  you  will  be  convinced  you  have  suc= 
cessfully  begun. 

LETTER    XIII. 
syntax  generally  considered. 

My  dear  James  : 

134.  In  Letter  II,  paragraph  9,  I  shortly  [briefly]  ex- 
plained to  you  the  meaning  of  the  word  Syntax,  as  that 
word  is  used  in  the  teaching  of  Grammar.  Read  that 
paragraph  again. 


84  SYNTAX.  [letter 

135.  We  are,  then,  now  entering  upon  this  branch  ot 
your  study  ;  and  it  is  my  object  to  teach  you  how  to  give 
all  the  words  you  make  use  of  their  proper  situation  [posi- 
tion] when  you  come  to  put  them  into  sentences.  Because, 
though  every  word  that  you  make  use  of  may  be  correctly 
spelled  ;  that  is  to  say,  may  have  all  the  letters  in  it  that  it 
ought  to  have,  and  no  more  than  it  ought  to  have  ;  and 
though  all  the  words  may,  at  the  same  time,  be  the  fit 
words  to  use  in  order  to  express  what  you  wish  to  express ; 
yet,  for  want  of  a  due  observance  of  the  principles  and 
rules  of  Syntax,  your  sentences  may  be  incorrect,  and,  in 
some  cases,  they  may  not  express  what  you  wish  them  to 
express. 

136.  I  shall,  however,  carry  my  instructions  a  little 
further  than  the  construction  of  independent  sentences.  I 
shall  make  some  remarks  upon  the  manner  of  putting  sen- 
tences together ;  and  on  the  things  necessary  to  be  under- 
stood, in  order  to  enable  a  person  to  write  a  series  of  sen- 
tences. These  remarks  will  show  you  the  use  of  figurative 
language,  and  will,  I  hope,  teach  you  how  to  avoid  the 
very  common  error  of  making  your  writing  confused  and 
unintelligible. 

LETTER   XIV. 

SYNTAX. 

The  Points  and  Marks  made  use  of  in  Writing. 
My  dear  James: 

137.  There  are,  as  I  informed  you  in  paragraph  9,  Let- 
ter II,  Points  made  use  of  in  the  making,  or  writing,  of 
sentences  ;  and,  therefore,  we  must  first  notice  these  ;  be- 
cause, as  you  will  soon  see,  the  sense,  or  meaning,  of  the 


xiv.]  SYNTAX.  85 

words  is  very  much  dependent  upon  the  points  which  [that] 
are  used  along  with  the  words.  For  instance :  "  You  will 
be  rich  if  you  be  [are]  industrious,  in  a  few  years."  Then 
again  :  "  You  will  be  rick,  if  you  be  [are]  industrious  in  a 
few  years."  Here,  though  in  both  sentences  the  words  and 
also  the  order  of  the  words  are  precisely  the  same,  the 
meaning  of  one  of  the  sentences  is  very  different  from  that 
of  the  other.  The  first  sentence  means  that  you  will,  in  a 
few  years'  time,  be  rich,  if  you  be  [are]  industrious  now. 
The  second  means  that  you  will  be  rich,  some  time  or  other, 
if  you  be  [are]  industrious  in  a  few  years  from  this  time. 
And  all  this  great  difference  in  meaning  is,  as  you  must 
see,  produced  solely  by  the  difference  in  the  situation  of 
the  comma.  Put  another  comma  after  the  last  word  indus- 
trious, and  the  meaning  becomes  dubious.  A  memorable 
proof  of  the  great  importance  of  attending  to  Points  was 
given  to  the  English  nation  in  the  year  1817.  A  committee 
of  the  House  of  Lords  made  a  report  to  the  House,  re- 
specting certain  political  clubs.  A  secretary  of  one  of  those 
clubs  presented  a  petition  to  the  House,  in  which  he  de- 
clared positively,  and  offered  to  prove  at  the  bar,  that  a 
part  of  the  report  was  totally  false.  At  first  their  Lord- 
ships blustered  :  their  high  blood  seemed  to  boil :  but,  at 
last,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  apologized  for  the 
report  by  saying  that  there  ought  to  have  been  a  full-point 
where  there  was  only  a  comma  !  and  that  it  was  this  which 
[that]  made  that  false  which  [that]  would  otherwise  have 
been,  and  which  [that]  was  intended  to  be,  true  ! 

138.  These  Points  being,  then,  things  of  so  much  con- 
sequence in  the  forming  of  sentences,  it  is  necessary  that  I 
explain  to  you  the  use  of  them,  before  I  proceed  any  far. 
then  There  are  four  of  them :  the  Full-point,  or  Period; 
the  Colon  :  the  Semicolon  :  the  Comma. 


86  SYNTAX.  [letter 

139.  The  Full-point  is  a  single  dot,  thus  [.],  and  it  is 
used  at  the  end  of  every  complete  sentence.  That  is  to 
say,  at  the  end  of  every  collection  of  words  which  [that] 
make  a  full  and  complete  meaning,  and  is  not  necessarily 
connected  with  other  collections  of  words.  But  a  sentence 
may  consist  of  several  members  or  divisions,  and  then  it  is 
called  a  compound  sentence.  When  it  has  no  division,  it  is 
called  a  simple  sentence.  Thus  :  "  The  people  suffer  great 
misery."  This  is  a  simple  sentence;  but,  "The  people 
suffer  great  misery,  and  daily  perish  for  want,"  is  a  com- 
pound sentence  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  compounded,  or  made 
up,  of  two  simple  sentences. 

140.  The  Colon,  which  is  written  thus  [:],  is  next  tt> 
the  full-point  in  requiring  a  complete  sense  in  the  words. 
It  is,  indeed,  often  used  when  the  sense  is  complete,  but 
when  there  is  something  still  behind,  which  [that]  tends  to 
make  the  sense  fuller  or  clearer. 

141.  The  Semicolon  is  written  thus  [;],  and  it  is  used 
to  set  off,  or  divide,  simple  sentences,  in  cases  when  the 
comma  is  not  quite  enough  to  keep  the  meaning  of  the  sim- 
ple sentences  sufficiently  distinct. 

142.  The  Comma  is  written  thus  [,],  and  is  used  to 
mark  the  shortest  pauses  in  reading,  and  the  smallest  di' 
visions  in  writing.  It  has,  by  some  grammarians,  been 
given  as  a  rule  to  use  a  comma  to  set  off  every  part  of 
a  compound  sentence,  which  part  has  in  it  a  verb  not 
in  the  infinitive  mode  ;  and,  certainly,  this  is,  in  general, 
proper.  But  it  is  not  always  proper  ;  and,  besides,  com- 
mas are  used,  in  numerous  cases,  to  set  off  parts  which 
[that]  have  no  verbs  in  them  ;  and  even  to  set  off  single 
words  which  [that]  are  not  verbs  :  and  of  this  the  veiy  sen- 
tence which  [that]  I  am  now  writing  gives  you  ample 
proof.     The  comma  marks  the  shortest  pause  that  we  make 


xiv.]  SYNTAX.  87 

in  speaking  ;  and  it  is  evident  that,  in  many  cases,  its  use 
must  depend  upon  taste.  It  is  sometimes  used  to  give  em- 
phasis, or  weight,  to  the  word  after  which  it  is  put.  Ob- 
serve, now,  the  following  two  sentences  :  "I  was  very  well 
and  cheerful  last  week  ;  but,  am  rather  feeble  and  low- 
spirited  now."  "  I  am  very  willing  to  yield  to  your  kind 
requests  ;  but,  I  will  set  your  harsh  commands  at  defiance." 
Commas  are  made  use  of  when  phrases,  that  is  to  say,  por- 
tions of  words,  are  throwed  [thrown]  into  a  sentence,  and 
which  [that]  are  not  absolutely  necessary  to  assist  in  its 
grammatical  construction.  For  instance :  "  There  were, 
in  the  year  1817,  petitions  from  a  million  and  a  half  of  men, 
who  [that],  as  they  distinctly  alleged,  were  suffering  the 
greatest  possible  hardships."  The  two  phrases,  in  italics, 
may  be  left  out  in  the  reading,  and  still  the  sentence  will 
have  its  full  grammatical  construction. 

143.  Let  us  now  take  a  compound  sentence  or  two  con- 
taining all  the  four  points.  "  In  a  land  of  liberty  it  is  ex- 
tremely dangerous  to  make  a  distinct  order  of  the  profession 
of  arms.  In  absolute  monarchies  this  is  necessary  for  the 
safety  of  the  prince,  and  arises  from  the  main  principle  of 
their  constitution,  which  is  that  of  governing  by  fear ;  but 
in  free  states  the  profession  of  a  soldier,  taken  singly  and 
merely  as  a  profession,  is  justly  an  object  of  jealousy.  In 
these  no  man  should  take  up  arms,  but  with  a  view  to  de- 
fend his  country  and  its  laws :  he  puts  off  the  citizen  when 
he  enters  the  camp  :  but  it  is  because  he  is  a  citizen,  and 
would  continue  so,  that  he  makes  himself  for  a  while  a  sol- 
dier. The  laws  therefore  and  constitution  of  these  king- 
doms know  no  such  state  as  that  of  a  perpetual  standing 
soldier,  bred  up  to  no  other  profession  than  that  of  war  ; 
and  it  was  not  till  the  reign  of  Henry  VII  that  the  kings  of 
England  had  so  much  as  a  guard  about  their   persons.'" 


88  SYNTAX.  [letter 

This  passage  is  taken  from  Blackstone's  Commentaries, 
Book  I,  Chap.  13.  Here  are  four  complete  sentences. 
The  first  is  a  simple  sentence.  The  other  three  are  com- 
pound sentences.  Each  of  these  latter  has  its  members,  all 
very  judiciously  set  off  by  points.  The  word  so,  in  the 
third  sentence,  ought  to  be  such,  or  the  words  a  citizen 
ought  to  be  repeated.  But,  with  this  trifling  exception, 
these  are  very  beautiful  sentences.  Nothing  affected  or 
confused  in  them  :  all  is  simple,  clear,  and  harmonious. 

144.  You  will  now  see  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  give 
any  precise  rules  for  the  use  of  these  several  points.  Much 
must  be  left  to  taste  ;  something  must  depend  upon  the 
weight  which  [that]  we  may  wish  to  give  to  particular 
words,  or  phrases  ;  and  something  on  the  seriousness,  or 
the  levity,  of  the  subject  on  which  we  are  writing. 

145.  Besides  these  points,  however,  there  are  certain 
grammatical  signs,  or  marks,  which  [that]  are  made  use  of 
in  the  writing  of  sentences  :  the  mark  of  parenthesis,  the 
mark  of  interrogation,  the  mark  of  exc/amation,  the  apos- 
trophe, otherwise  called  the  mark  of  elision,  and  the  hyphen. 

145.  The  mark  of  Parenthesis  consists  of  two  curved 
strokes,  drawed  [drawn]  across  the  line  of  writing,  or  of 
print.  Its  use  is  to  inclose  a  phrase  throvved  [thrown]  in 
hastily  to  assist  in  elucidating  our  subject,  or  to  add  force 
to  our  assertions  or  arguments.  But,  observe,  the  paren- 
thesis ought  to  be  very  sparingly  used.  It  is  necessarily  an 
interrupter :  it  breaks  in  upon  the  regular  course  of  the 
mind  :  it  tends  to  divert  the  attention  from  the  main  object 
of  the  sentence.     I  will  give  you,  from  Mr.  Tull,*  Chap. 

*  Mr.  Tull,  the  inventor  of  the  drill  and  horse-hoeing  husbandry, 
and  the  author  of  "  New  Horse-hoeing  Husbandry,"  was  born  about 
1680,  died  1740.  An  edition  of  the  "  New  Horse-hoeing  Husbandry" 
was  brought  out  by  Cobbett  in  1822.     "  From  this  famous  book."  he 


xiv.]  SYNTAX.  89 

XIII,  an  instance  of  the  omission  of  the  parenthesis,  and 
also  of  the  proper  employment  of  it.  "  Palladius  thought 
also,  with  others  of  the  ancients,  that  Heaven  was  to  be 
frightened  with  red  cloth,  with  the  feathers  or  the  heart  of 
an  owl,  and  a  multitude  of  such  ridiculous  scarecrows,  from 
spoiling  the  fruits  of  the  fields  and  gardens.  The  ancients 
having  no  rational  principles,  or  theory  of  agriculture,  placed 
their  chief  confidence  in  magical  charms  and  enchantments, 
which  he,  who  [that]  has  the  patience  or  curiosity  to  read, 
may  find,  under  the  title  aforementioned,  in  Cato,  in  Varro 
{and  even  Columella  is  as  fulsome  as  any  of  them),  all 
written  in  very  fine  language  ;  which  is  most  of  the  erudi- 
tion that  can  be  acquired  as  to  field  husbandry,  from  the 
Greek  and  Latin  writers,  whether  in  verse  or  prose."  For 
want  of  the  mark  of  parenthesis  in  the  first  of  these  sen- 
tences, we  almost  think,  at  the  close  of  it,  that  the  author 
is  speaking  of  the  crows,  and  not  of  Heaven,  being  fright- 
ened from  spoiling  the  fruits  of  the  fields  and  the  gardens. 
But  with  regard  to  the  use  of  the  parenthesis,  I  shall  speak, 
perhaps,  more  fully  by-and-by :  for  the  employment  of  it  is 
a  matter  of  some  importance. 

147.  The  mark  of  Interrogation,  which  is  written  thus 
[?],  is  used  when  a  question  is  asked  :  as,  "  Who  has  my 
pen?"  "  What  tnan  is  that?"  In  these  and  [in]  numer- 
ous other  cases,  the  mark  is  not  necessary  to  our  clearly 
comprehending  the  meaning  of  the  writer.  But  this  is  not 
always  the  case.  "  What  does  he  say  ?  Put  the  horse  into 
the  stable."  Again  :  "  What  does  he  say?  Put  the  horse 
into  the  stable  ?  "  In  speaking,  this  great  difference  in  the 
meaning,  in  this  instance,  would  be  fully  expressed  by  the 
voice  and  manner  of  the  speaker  ;  but,  in  writing,  the  mark 

says,  M  I  learned  al!  my  principles  relative  to  farming,  gardening,  and 
planting.     It  really,  without  a  pun,  goes  to  the  root  of  the  subject." 


90  SYNTAX.  [letter 

of  interrogation  is,  you  see,  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to 
accomplish  the  purpose. 

148.  The  mark  of  Exclamation,  or  Admiration,  is  writ- 
ten thus  [!],  and,  as  its  name  denotes,  is  used  to  distinguish 
words  or  sentences  that  are  exclamatory,  from  such  as  are 
not :  "  What  do  you  say  !  What  do  you  say  ?  "  The  differ- 
ence in  the  sense  is  very  obvious  here.  Again  :  "  He  is 
going  away  to-night !  He  is  going  away  to-night!1  The 
last  simply  states  the  fact  ;  but  the  first,  besides  stating  the 
fact,  expresses  surprise  at  it. 

149.  The  Apostrophe,  or  mark  of  Elision,  is  a  comma 
placed  above  the  line,  thus  ['].  Elision  means  a  striking 
out ;  and  this  mark  is  used  for  that  purpose :  as,  don't  for 
do  not ;  tho'  for  though  ;  lovd  for  loved.  I  have  mentioned 
this  mark,  because  it  is  used  properly  enough  in  poetry  / 
but,  I  beg  you  never  to  use  it  in  prose  in  one  single  in- 
stance during  your  whole  life.  It  ought  to  be  called  the 
mark  not  of  elision,  but  of  laziness  and  vulgarity.  It  is 
necessary  as  the  mark  of  the  possessive  case  of  nouns,  as 
you  have  seen  in  Letter  V,  paragraph  47.  That  is  its  use, 
and  any  other  employment  of  it  is  an  abuse. 

150.  The  Hyphen  or  Conjoiner  is  a  little  line  drawed 
[drawn]  to  connect  words,  or  parts  of  words :  as  in  sea-jish, 
water-rat.  For  here  are  two  distinct  words,  though  they, 
in  these  instances,  make  but  one.  Sometimes  the  hyphen 
is  used  to  connect  many  words  together :  "  The  never-to- 
be-forgotten  cruelty  of  the  Borough-tyrants."  When,  in 
writing,  or  in  printing,  a  line  ends  with  part  of  a  word,  a 
hyphen  is  placed  after  that  part,  in  order  to  show  that 
that  part  is  to  be  joined,  in  the  reading,  with  that  which 
£that]  begins  the  next  line. 

151.  These  are  all  the  grammatical  marks;  but,  there 
are  others,  used  in  writing  for  the  purpose  of  saving  time 


xiv.]  SYNTAX.  91 

and  words.  The  mark  of  quotation  or  of  citing.  This  mark 
consists  of  two  commas  placed  thus  :  "  There  were  many 
men."  It  is  used  to  inclose  words  taken  from  other  writ- 
ings, or  from  other  persons'  discourse  ;  and,  indeed,  it  is 
frequently  used  to  inclose  certain  sentences,  or  words,  of 
the  writer,  when  he  wishes  to  mark  them  as  wholly  distinct 
from  the  general  course  of  any  statement  that  he  is  making, 
or  of  any  instruction  that  he  is  giving.  I  have,  for  instance, 
in  the  writing  of  these  Letters  to  you,  set  off  many  of  my 
examples  by  marks  of  quotation.  In  short,  its  use  is  to 
notify  to  the  reader  that  such  and  such  words,  or  such 
and  such  sentences,  are  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  forming 
part  of  the  regular  course  of  those  thoughts  which  [that] 
are  at  the  present  time  coming  from  the  mind  of  the 
writer. 

152.  This  mark  [*j"]  is  found  in  the  Bible.  It  stands 
for  paragraph.  This  [£]  is  sometimes  used  instead  of  the 
word  section.  As  to  stars  [*]  and  the  other  marks  which 
[that]  are  used  for  the  purpose  of  leading  the  eye  of  the 
reader  to  notes,  in  the  same  page,  or  at  the  end  of  the  book, 
they  are  perfectly  arbitrary.  You  may  use  for  this  purpose 
any  marks  that  you  please.  But  let  me  observe  to  you 
here,  that  notes  ought  seldom  to  be  resorted  to.  Like  pa- 
rentheses, they  are  interrupters,  and  much  more  trouble- 
some interrupters,  because  they  generally  tell  a  much  longer 
story.  The  employing  of  them  arises,  in  almost  all  cases, 
from  confusion  in  the  mind  of  the  writer.  He  finds  the 
matter  too  much  for  him.  He  has  not  the  talent  to  work  it 
all  up  into  one  lucid  whole  ;  and,  therefore,  he  puts  part  of 
it  into  notes.  Notes  are  seldom  read.  If  the  text,  that  is 
to  say,  the  main  part  of  a  writing,  be  of  a  nature  to  engage 
our  earnest  attention,  we  have  not  time  to  stop  to  read  the 
notes :  and  if  our  attention  be  not  earnestly  engaged  by  the 


92  SYNTAX.  [letter 

text,  we  soon  lay  down   the  volume,  and  of  course   read 
neither  notes  nor  text. 

153.  As  a  mark  of  abbreviation,  the  full-point  is  used: 
as,  "  Mr.,  Mrs."  But  I  know  of  hardly  any  other  words 
that  ought  to  be  abbreviated  ;  and  if  these  were  not  it 
would  be  all  the  better.  People  may  indulge  themselves 
in  this  practice,  until  at  last  they  come  to  write  the  greater 
part  of  their  words  in  single  letters.  The  frequent  use  of 
abbreviation  is  always  a  mark  of  slovenliness  and  of  vul- 
garity. I  have  known  Lords  abbreviate  almost  the  half  of 
their  words :  it  was,  very  likely,  because  they  did  not  know 
how  to  spell  them  to  the  end.  Instead  of  the  word  and, 
you  often  see  people  put  &.  For  what  reason  I  should  like 
to  know.  But  to  this  &  is  sometimes  added  a  c  :  thus,  &c. 
And  is,  in  Latin,  et,  and  c  is  the  first  letter  of  the  Latin 
word  ccetera,  which  means  the  like,  or  so  on.  Therefore 
this  dfc.  means  and  the  like,  or  and  so  on.  This  abbrevia- 
tion of  a  foreign  word  is  a  most  convenient  thing  for  such 
writers  as  have  too  much  indolence  or  too  little  sense  to 
say  fully  and  clearly  what  they  ought  to  say.  If  you  mean 
to  say  and  the  like,  or  and  so  on,  why  not  say  it  ?  This  ab- 
breviation is  very  frequently  made  use  of  without  the 
writer  ['s]  having  any  idea  of  its  import.  A  writer  on 
Grammar  says,  "  When  these  words  are  joined  to  if,  since, 
&C,  they  are  adverbs."  But  where  is  the  like  of  if,  or  of 
since?  The  best  way  to  guard  yourself  against  the  com- 
mitting of  similar  errors  is  never  to  use  this  abbreviation. 

154.  The  use  of  capitals  and  italics  I  will  notice  in 
this  place.  In  the  books  printed  before  the  middle  of  the 
last  century,  a  capital  letter  was  used  as  the  first  letter  of 
every  noun.  Capitals  are  now  used  more  sparingly.  We 
use  them  at  the  beginning  of  every  paragraph,  let  the  word 
be  what  it  may  ;  at  the  beginning  of  every  sentence  which 


xw.]  SYNTAX.  93 

[that]  follows  a  full-point  ;  at  the  beginning  of  all  proper 
names ;  at  the  beginning  of  all  adjectives  growing  out  of 
the  names  of  countries,  or  nations  :  as,  the  English  lan- 
guage ;  the  French  fashion  ;  the  American  government. 
We  use  capitals,  besides,  at  the  beginning  of  any  word, 
when  we  think  the  doing  of  it  likely  to  assist  in  elucidating 
our  meaning,  but  in  general  we  use  them  as  above  stated. 
The  use  of  italic  characters  in  print  is  to  point  out,  as 
worthy  of  particular  attention,  the  words  distinguished  by 
those  characters.  In  writing  with  a  pen,  a  stroke  is  drawn 
under  such  words  as  we  wish  to  be  considered  to  be  in 
italics.  If  we  wish  words  to  be  put  in  small  capital?, 
we  draw  two  strokes  under  them:  if  in  FULL  CAPI- 
TALS, we  draw  three  strokes  under  them. 

155.  The  last  thing  I  shall  mention,  under  this  head, 
is  the  caret  [a],  which  is  used  to  point  upward  to  a  part 
which  [that]  has  been  omitted,  and  which  [that]  is  inserted 
between  the  line,  where  the  caret  is  placed,  and  the  line 
above  it.  Things  should  be  called  by  their  right  names, 
and  this  should  be  called  the  blunder-mark.  I  would  have 
you,  my  dear  James,  scorn  the  use  of  this  thing.  Think 
before  you  write  ;  let  it  be  your  custom  to  write  correctly 
and  in  a.  plain  hand.  Be  as  careful  that  neatness,  grammar, 
and  sense  prevail,  when  you  write  to  a  blacksmith  about 
shoeing  a  horse,  as  when  you  write  on  the  most  important 
subjects,  and  when  you  expect  what  you  write  to  be  read 
by  persons  whose  good  opinion  you  are  most  anxious  to 
obtain  or  secure.  Habit  is  powerful  in  all  cases  ;  but  its 
power  in  this  case  is  truly  wonderful.  When  you  write, 
bear  constantly  in  mind  that  some  one  is  to  read  and  to 
understand  what  you  write.  This  will  make  your  hand- 
writing, and  also  your  meaning,  plain.  Never  think  of 
mending  what   you  write.     Let   it   go.     No  patching  ;  no 


94  SYNTAX,  [letter 

after-pointing.  As  your  pen  moves,  bear  constantly  in 
mind  that  it  is  making  strokes  which  [that]  are  to  remain 
forever.  Far,  I  hope,  from  my  dear  James  will  be  the 
ridiculous,  the  contemptible  affectation,  of  writing  in  a 
slovenly  or  illegible  hand  ;  or,  that  of  signing  his  name 
otherwise  than  in  plain  letters. 

156.  In  concluding  this  Letter  let  me  caution  you 
against  the  use  of  what,  by  some,  is  called  the  dash.  The 
dash  is  a  stroke  along  the  line :  thus,  "  I  am  rich — I  was 
poor — I  shall  be  poor  again."  This  is  wild  work  indeed  ! 
Who  is  to  know  what  is  intended  by  the  use  of  these  dashes? 
Those  who  [that]  have  thought  proper,  like  Mr.  Lindley 
Murray,  to  place  the  dash  among  the  grammatical  points^ 
ought  to  give  us  some  rule  relative  to  its  different  longitu- 
dinal dimensions  in  different  cases.  The  inch,  the  th7-ee- 
quarter-inch,  the  half-inch,  the  quarter-inch  :  these  would 
be  something  determinate  ;  but,  u  the  dash,"  without  meas- 
ure, must  be  a  most  perilous  thing  for  a  young  grammarian 
to  handle.  In  short,  "  the  dash  "  is  a  cover  for  ignorance 
as  to  the  use  of  points,  and  it  can  answer  no  other  purpose. 
A  dash  is  very  often  put  in  crowded  print,  in  order  to  save 
the  room  that  would  be  lost  by  the  breaks  of  distinct  para- 
graphs. This  is  another  matter.  Here  the  dash  comes 
after  a  full-point.  It  is  the  using  of  it  in  the  body  of  a 
sentence  against  which  I  caution  you  [that  I  caution  you 
against.  Better :  The  using  of  it  in  the  body  of  a  sentence 
is  what  I  caution  you  against]. 


xv.]  AS  RELATING    TO  ARTICLES.  95 

LETTER   XV. 
syntax,  as  relating  to  articles. 

My  dear  James: 

157.  Before  you  proceed  to  my  instructions  relative  to 
the  employing  of  Articles,  you  will  do  well  to  read  again 
all  the  paragraphs  in  Letter  IV.  Our  Articles  are  so  few 
in  number,  and  they  are  subject  to  so  little  variation  in 
their  orthography,  that  very  few  errors  can  arise  in  the  use 
of  them.  But,  still,  errors  may  arise  ;  and  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  guard  you  against  them. 

158.  You  will  not  fall  into  very  gross  errors  in  the  use 
of  the  Articles.  You  will  not  say,  as  in  the  erroneous  pas- 
sage cited  by  Doctor  Lowth,*  "And  I  persecuted  this 
way  unto  the  death,"  meaning  death  generally ;  but  you 
may  commit  errors  less  glaring.  "  The  Chancellor  informed 
the  Queen  of  it,  and  she  immediately  sent  for  the  Secretary 
and  Treasurer."  Now,  it  is  not  certain  here,  whether  the 
Secretary  and  Treasurer  be  not  one  and  the  same  person  ; 
which  uncertainty  would  have  been  avoided  by  a  repetition 
of  the  Article:  "the  Secretary  and  the  Treasurer":  and 
you  will  bear  in  mind  that,  in  every  sentence,  the  very  first 
thing  to  be  attended  to  is  clearness  as  to  meaning. 

159.  Nouns  which  [that]  express  the  whole  of  a  species 
do  not,  in  general,  take  the  definite  Article  :  as,  "  Grass  is 
good  for  horses,  and  wheat  for  men."  Yet,  in  speaking  of 
the  appearance  of  the  face  of  the  country,  we  say,  "  The 
grass  looks  well :  the  wheat  is  blighted."    ,  The  reason  of 

*  Dr.  Robert  Lowth,  1710-1787,  best  known  as  the  author  of  "  Lec- 
tures on  the  Sacred  Poetry  of  the  Hebrews,"  originally  written  in  Lat- 
in. In  1763  he  published  a  "  Short  Introduction  to  English  Grammar," 
often  since  reprinted,  and  for  many  years  much  used  in  schools.  Mur* 
ray's  Grammar  is  but  an  enlarged  copy  of  Lowth's. 


96  SYNTAX,  [letter 

this  is  that  we  are,  in  this  last  case,  limiting  our  meaning 
to  the  grass  and  the  wheat,  which  [that]  are  on  the  ground 
at  this  time.  "  How  do  hops  sell  ?  Hops  are  dear  ;  but  the 
hops  look  promising."  In  this  respect  there  is  a  passage  in 
Mr.  Tull  which  [that]  is  faulty  :  "  Neither  could  weeds  be 
of  any  prejudice  to  corny  It  should  be  "  the  corn  "  ;  for 
he  does  not  mean  corn  universally,  but  the  standing  corn, 
and  the  corn  among  which  weeds  grow  ;  and,  therefore,  the 
definite  Article  is  required. 

160.  "Ten  shillings  the  bushel,"  and  like  phrases,  are 
perfectly  correct.  They  mean,  "  ten  shillings  by  the  bushel, 
ox  for  the  bushel."  Instead  of  this  mode  of  expression  we 
sometimes  use,  "  ten  shillings  a  bushel  "  :  that  is  to  say,  ten 
shillings  for  a  bushel,  or  a  bushel  at  a  time.  Either  of 
these  modes  of  expression  is  far  preferable  to  per  bushel ; 
for  the  per  is  not  English,  and  is,  to  the  greater  part  of  the 
people,  a  mystical  sort  of  word. 

161.  The  indefinite  Article  a,  or  an,  is  used  with  the 
words,  day,  month,  year,  and  others  :  as,  once  a  day  ; 
twice  a  month  ;  a  thousand  pounds  a  year.  It  means  in  a 
day,  in  a  month,  in,  or  for,  a  year  ;  and  though  per  annum 
means  the  same  as  this  last,  the  English  phrase  is,  in  all 
respects,  the  best  [better].  The  same  may  be  said  of  per 
cent,  that  is  per  centum,  or,  in  plain  English,  the  hundred, 
or  a  hundred :  by  ten  per  centum  we  mean  ten  for  the  hun- 
dred, or  ten  for  a  hundred ;  and  why  can  we  not,  then,  say, 
in  plain  English,  what  we  mean  ? 

162.  When  there  are  several  nouns  following  the  indefi- 
nite article,  care  ought  to  [should]  be  taken  that  it  accord 
with  them  :  "  a  dog,  cat,  owl,  and  sparrow."  Owl  requires 
an ;  and,  therefore,  the  Article  must  be  repeated  in  this 
phrase :  as,  a  dog,  a  cat,  an  owl,  and  a  sparrow. 

163.  Nouns,  signifying  fixed  and  settled  collections  of 


xvi. j  AS  RELATING    TO   NOUNS.  g) 

individuals,  as  thousand,  hundred,  dozen,  score,  take  the  in- 
definite Article,  though  they  are  of  plural  meaning.  It  is 
a  certain  mass,  or  number,  ox  multitude,  called  a  score  ;  and 
so  on  ;  and  the  Article  agrees  with  these  understood  words, 
which  are  in  the  singular  number. 


LETTER   XVI. 
syntax,  as  relating  to  nouns. 

My  dear  James: 

164.  Read  again  Letter  V,  the  subject  of  which  is  the 
Etymology  of  Nouns.  Nouns  are  governed,  as  it  is  called, 
by  verbs  and  prepositions  ;  that  is  to  say,  these  latter  sorts 
of  words  cause  nouns  to  be  in  such  or  such  a  case  ;  and  there 
must  be  a  concord,  or  an  agreement,  between  the  Nouns 
and  the  other  words,  which  [that],  along  with  the  Nouns, 
compose  a  sentence. 

165.  But  these  matters  will  be  best  explained  when  I 
come  to  the  Syntax  of  Verbs,  for,  until  we  take  the  verb 
into  account,  we  can  not  go  far  in  giving  rules  for  the  form- 
ing of  sentences.  Under  the  present  head,  therefore,  1 
shall  content  myself  with  doing  little  more  than  to  give  some 
further  account  of  the  manner  of  using  the  possessive  case  of 
Nouns ;  that  being  the  only  case,  to  denote  which,  our 
Nouns  vary  their  endings. 

166.  The  possessive  case  was  pretty  fully  spoken  of  by 
me  in  the  Letter  just  referred  to  ;  but  there  are  certain 
other  observations  to  make  with  regard  to  the  using  of  it 
in  sentences.  When  the  Noun  which  [that]  is  in  the  pos- 
sessive case  is  expressed  by  a  circumlocution,  that  is  to  say 
by  many  words  in  lieu  of  one,  the  sign  of  the  possessive 

7 


98  SYNTAX,  [letter 

case  is  joined  to  the  last  word  :  as,  "John,  the  ord  farmer's, 
wife."  "  Oliver,  the  spy's,  evidence."  It  is  however  much 
better  to  say,  "  The  wife  of  John,  the  old  farmer."  "  The 
evidence  of  Oliver,  the  spy." 

167.  When  two  or  more  Nouns  in  the  possessive  case 
follow  each  other,  and  are  joined  by  a  conjunctive  conjunc- 
tion, the  sign  of  the  possessive  case  is,  when  the  thing  pos- 
sessed is  the  same,  put  to  the  last  Noun  only  :  as,  "  Peter, 
Joseph,  and  Richard's  estate."  In  this  example,  the  thing 
possessed  being  one  and  the  same  thing,  the  sign  applies 
equally  to  each  of  the  three  possessive  Nouns.  But, 
"  Peter's,  Joseph's,  and  Richard's  estate,"  implies  that  each 
has  an  estate  ;  or,  at  least,  it  will  admit  of  that  meaning  ['s] 
being  given  to  it,  while  the  former  phrase  will  not. 

168.  Sometimes  the  sign  of  the  possessive  case  is  left 
out,  and  a  hyphen  is  used  in  its  stead  :  as,  "  Edwards,  the 
government-spy."  That  is  to  say,  "  the  government's  spy  "  ; 
or,  "  the  spy  of  the  government."  These  two  words,  joined 
in  this  manner,  are  called  a  compound  Noun  :  and  to  this 
compounding  of  Nouns  our  language  is  very  prone.  We 
say  '■'•chamber-floor,  horse-shoe,  dog-collar"  y  that  is  to  say 
Sl  chamber  s  floor,  horse's  shoe,  dog's  collar." 

169.  This  is  an  advantage  peculiar  to  our  language.  It 
enables  us  to  say  much  in  few  words,  which  always  gives 
strength  to  language  ;  and,  after  clearness,  strength  is  the 
most  valuable  quality  that  writing  or  speaking  can  possess. 
*'  The  Yorkshiremen  flew  to  arms."  If  we  could  not  com- 
pound our  words  we  must  [should  have  to]  say,  "  The  men 
of  the  shire  of  York  flew  to  arms."  When  you  come  to  learn 
French,  you  will  soon  see  how  much  the  English  language 
is  better  than  the  French  in  this  respect. 

170.  You  must  take  care  when  you  use  the  possessiv« 
case,  not  to  use  after  it  words  which  [that]  create  a  confu- 


XVI.]  AS  RELATING    TO  NOUNS.  99 

sion  in  meaning.  Hume  has  this  sentence :  "  They  flew 
to  arms  and  attacked  Northumberland 's  house,  whom  they 
put  to  death."  We  know  what  is  meant,  because  whom 
can  relate  to  persons  only  ;  but  if  it  had  been  an  attack  on 
Northumberland's  men,  the  meaning  would  have  been  that 
the  men  were  put  to  death.  However,  the  sentence,  as  it 
stands,  is  sufficiently  incorrect.  It  should  have  been : 
"  They  flew  to  arms,  and  attacked  the  house  of  Northum- 
berland, whom  they  put  to  death." 

[Not  so,  for  house  and  not  Northumberland,  as  the  sen- 
tence stands,  is  the  antecedent  of  whom.  Hume  should 
have  written :  "  They  flew  to  arms  and  attacked  the  house 
of  Northumberland,  putting  him  to  death,"  or  "  They  flew 
to  arms,  attacked  the  house  of  Northumberland,  and  put 
him  to  death."     The  latter  wording  is  the  better.] 

171.  A  passage,  from  Doctor  Hugh  Blair,*  the 
author  of  Lectures  on  Rhetoric,  will  give  you  another  in- 
stance of  error  in  the  use  of  the  possessive  case.  I  take  it 
from  the  24th  Lecture  :  "In  comparing  Demosthenes  and 
Cicero,  most  of  the  French  critics  are  disposed  to  give  the 
preference  to  the  latter.  P.  Rapin,  the  Jesuit,  in  the  paral- 
lels which  [that]  he  has  drawn  between  some  of  the  most 
eminent  Greek  and  Roman  writers,  uniformly  decides  in 
favor  of  the  Roman.  For  the  preference  which  [that]  he 
gives  to  Cicero,  he  assigns  and  lays  stress  on  one  reason,  of 
a  pretty  extraordinary  nature,  viz.,  that  Demosthenes  could 
not  possibly  have  so  clear  an  insight  as  Cicero  into  the 
manners  and  passions  of  men.  Why?  because  he  had  not 
the  advantage  of  perusing  Aristotle's  Treatise  on  Rhetoric, 

*  Dr.  Hugh  Blair,  1710-1800,  a  native  of  Edinburgh  and  Professor 
of  Rhetoric  and  Belles-Lettres  in  the  University  of  that  city.  His 
celebrated  Lectures  on  Rhetoric  and  Belles-Lettres,  many  editions  of 
which  have  appeared,  were  first  published  in  1783. 


roo  SYNTAX,  [letter 

wherein,  says  our  critic,  he  has  fully  laid  open  that  mys- 
tery ;  and  to  support  this  weighty  argument,  he  enters  ir*to 
a  controversy  with  A.  Gellius,  in  order  to  prove  that  Aris- 
totle's Rhetoric  was  not  published  till  after  Demosthenes 
had  spoken,  at  least,  his  most  considerable  orations."  It  is 
surprising  that  the  Doctor  should  have  put  such  a  passage 
as  this  upon  paper,  and  more  surprising  that  he  should 
leave  it  in  this  state  after  having  perused  it  with  that  care 
which  [that]  is  usually  employed  [exercised]  in  examining 
writings  that  are  to  be  put  into  print,  and  especially  writ- 
ings in  which  every  word  is  expected  to  be  used  in  a  proper 
manner.  In  Bacon,  in  Tull,  in  Blackstone,  in  Hume,  in 
Swift,  in  Bolingbroke :  in  all  writers,  however  able,  we 
find  errors.  Yet,  though  many  of  their  sentences  will  not 
stand  the  test  of  strict  grammatical  criticism,  the  sense  gen- 
erally is  clear  to  our  minds  ;  and  we  read  on.  But,  in 
this  passage  of  Dr.  Blair,  all  is  confusion  :  the  mind  is  puz- 
zled :  we  at  last  hardly  know  whom  or  what  the  writer  is 
talking  about,  and  we  fairly  come  to  a  stand. 

172.  In  speaking  of  the  many  faults  in  this  passage,  I 
shall  be  obliged  to  make  here  observations  which  [that] 
would  come  under  the  head  of  pronouns,  verbs,  adverbs, 
and  prepositions.  The  first  two  of  the  three  sentences  are 
in  themselves  rather  obscure,  and  are  well  enough  calcu- 
lated for  ushering  in  the  complete  confusion  that  follows. 
The  he,  which  [that]  comes  immediately  after  the  word 
because,  may  relate  to  Demosthenes  ;  but  to  what  Noun 
does  the  second  he  relate?  It  would,  when  we  first  look 
at  it,  seem  to  relate  to  the  same  Noun  as  [that  ?]  the  first 
he  relates  to  ;  for  the  Doctor  can  not  call  Aristotle's  Treatise 
on  Rhetoric  a  he.  No  :  in  speaking  of  this  the  Doctor  says 
"  wherein  "  :  that  is  to  say,  in  which.  He  means,  I  dare 
say,  that  the  he  should  stand  for  Aristotle /  but  it  does  not 


XVI.]  AS  RELATING    TO  NOUNS.  101 

stand  for  Aristotle.  This  Noun  is  not  a  nominative  in  the 
sentence  ;  and  it  can  not  have  the  pronoun  relating  to  it  as 
such.  This  he  may  relate  to  Cicero,  who  may  be  supposed 
to  have  laid  open  a  mystery  in  the  perusing  of  the  treatise  *, 
and  the  words  which  [that]  follow  the  he  would  seem  to 
give  countenance  to  this  supposition  ;  for  ivhat  mystery  is 
meant  by  the  words  "  that  mystery"  ?  Is  it  the  mystery  of 
Rheto>ic,  or  the  mystery  of  the  manners  and  passions  of 
men?  This  is  not  all,  however;  for  the  Doctor,  as  if  be- 
witched by  the  love  of  confusion,  must  tack  on  another 
long  member  to  the  sentence,  and  bring  forward  another 
he  to  stand  for  P.  Rapin,  whom  and  whose  argument  we 
have,  amid  the  general  confusion,  wholly  forgotten.  There 
is  an  error  also  in  the  use  of  the  active  participle  perusing. 
"  Demosthenes  could  not  have  so  complete  an  insight  as 
Cicero,  because  he  had  not  the  advantage  of  perusing." 
That  is  to  say,  the  advantage  of  being  engaged  in  perusing. 
But  this  is  not  what  is  meant.  The  Doctor  means  that  he 
had  not  had  the  advantage  of  perusing  ;  or,  rather,  that  he 
had  not  the  advantage  of  having  perused.  In  other  words, 
that  Demosthenes  could  not  have,  or  possess,  a  certain  kind 
of  knowledge  at  the  time  when  he  made  his  orations,  be- 
cause, at  that  time,  he  had  not,  or  did  not  possess,  the  ad- 
vantage oi  having  perused,  or  having  finished  to  peruse  the 
treatise  of  Aristotle.  Toward  the  close  of  the  last  sen- 
tence the  adverb  "at  least"  is  put  in  a  wrong  place.  The 
Doctor  means,  doubtless,  that  the  adverb  should  apply  to 
considerable,  and  not  to  spoken;  but,  from  its  being  im- 
properly placed,  it  applies  to  the  latter,  and  not  to  the 
former.  He  means  to  say  that  Demosthenes  had  spoken 
the  most  considerable,  at  least,  of  his  orations ;  but  as  the 
words  now  stand,  they  mean  that  he  had  done  the  speaking 
part  to  them,  if  he  had  done  nothing  more.     There  is  an 


f02  SYNTAX,  [lettef 

error  in  the  use  of  the  word  "  insight"  followed,  as  it  iss 
by  "into."  We  may  have  a  look,  or  sight,  into  a  house,  but 
not  an  insight.  This  would  be  to  take  an  inside  view  of 
an  inside. 

[Cobbett's  criticism  of  the  word  insight  here  is  not  well 
founded.  Milton  says,  "  Fraught  with  a  universal  insight 
into  things,"  which,  as  insight  is  the  equivalent  of  deep  view, 
is  a  correct  use  of  the  word.] 

173.  We  have  here  a  pretty  good  proof  that  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  Greek  and  Latin  is  not  sufficient  to  prevent 
men  from  writing  bad  English.  Here  is  ^.profound  scholar, 
a  teacher  of  Rhetoric,  discussing  the  comparative  merits 
of  Greek  and  Latin  writers,  and  disputing  with  a  French 
critic  ;  here  he  is  writing  English  in  a  manner  more  incor- 
rectly [incorrect]  than  you  will,  I  hope,  be  liable  [likely]  to 
write  it  at  the  end  of  your  reading  of  this  little  book.  Lest 
it  should  be  supposed  that  I  have  taken  great  pains  to  hunt 
out  this  erroneous  passage  of  Doctor  Blair,  I  will  inform 
you  that  I  have  hardly  looked  into  his  book.  Your  broth- 
ers, in  reading  it  through,  marked  a  great  number  of  er- 
roneous passages,  from  among  which  I  have  selected  the 
passage  just  cited.  With  what  propriety,  then,  are  the 
Greek  and  Latin  languages  called  the  "  learned  languages  "  ? 


LETTER   XVII. 

syntax,  as  relating  to  pronouns. 

My  dear  James  :  * 

174.  You  will  now  read  again  Letter  VI.  It  will  bring 
you  back  to  the  subject  of  Pronouns.  You  will  bear  in 
mind  that  personal  Pronouns  stand  for,  or  in  the  place  of 


xvil]       AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         103 

nouns  ;  and  that  the  greatest  care  ought  always  to  be  taken 
in  using  them,  because,  being  small  words,  and  in  frequent 
use,  the  proper  weight  of  them  is  very  often  unattended  to, 

175.  You  have  seen  in  the  passage  from  Dr.  Blair, 
quoted  in  the  foregoing  Letter,  what  confusion  arises  from 
the  want  of  taking  care  that  the  Pronoun  relate  clearly  to 
its  nominative  case,  and  that  it  be  not  left  to  be  understood 
to  relate  to  anything  else.  Little  words,  of  great  and  sweep- 
ing influence,  ought  to  be  used  with  the  greatest  care  ;  be- 
cause errors  in  the  using  of  them  make  such  great  errors 
in  point  of  meaning.  In  order  to  impress,  at  the  outset* 
these  precepts  on  your  mind,  I  will  give  you  an  instance 
of  this  kind  of  error  from  Addison  ;  and,  what  is  well  cal- 
culated to  heighten  the  interest  you  ought  to  feel  upon  the 
occasion,  is,  that  the  sentence,  which  [that]  contains  the 
error,  is  by  Dr.  Blair  held  forth  to  students  of  languages, 
in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  as  a  perfect  model  of  cor- 
rectness and  of  elegance.  The  sentence  is  from  Addison's 
Spectator,  Number  411  :  "  There  are,  indeed,  but  very  few, 
who  [that]  know  how  to  be  idle  and  innocent,  or  have  a 
relish  of  any  pleasures  that  are  not  criminal  ;  every  diver- 
sion they  take  is  at  the  expense  of  some  one  virtue  or  other, 
and  their  very  first  step  out  of  business  is  into  vice  or  folly." 
Dr.  Blair  says:  "Nothing  can  be  more  elegant,  or  more 
finely  turned,  than  this  sentence.  It  is  neat,  clear,  and 
musical.  We  could  hardly  alter  one  word,  or  displace  one 
member,  without  spoiling  it.  Few  sentences  are  to  be  found 
more  finished,  or  more  happy."  See  Blair's  20th  Lecture 
on  Rhetoric. 

176.  Now,  then,  my  dear  little  James,  let  us  see 
whether  we  plain  English  scholars  have  not  a  little  more 
judgment  than  this  professor  in  a  learned  University,  who 
could    not,  you  will  observe,  be  a   Doctor,  until  he   had 


104  SYNTAX,  [letter 

preached  a  sermon  in  the  Latin  language.  What  does  the 
pronoun  they  mean  in  this  sentence  of  Mr.  Addison? 
What  noun  does  it  relate  to;  or  stand  for?  What  noun  is 
the  nominative  of  the  sentence  ?  The  nominative  of  the 
sentence  is  the  word  few,  meaning  feiu  persons.  Very  well, 
then,  the  Pronoun  they  relates  to  this  nominative  ;  and  the 
meaning  of  the  sentence  is  this:  "That  but  few  persons 
know  how  to  be  idle  and  innocent ;  that  few  persons  have 
a  relish  of  any  pleasures  that  are  not  criminal ;  that  every 
diversion  these  few  persons  take  is  at  the  expense  of  some 
one  virtue  or  other,  and  that  the  very  first  step  of  these  few 
persons  out  of  business  is  into  vice  or  folly."  So  that  the 
sentence  says  precisely  the  contrary  of  what  the  author 
meant ;  or,  rather,  the  whole  is  perfect  nonsense.  All 
*.his  arises  from  the  misuse  of  the  Pronoun  they.  If,  instead 
of  this  word,  the  author  had  put  people  in  general,  or  most 
people,  or  most  men,  or  any  word  or  words  of  the  same 
meaning,  all  would  have  been  right. 

177.  I  will  take  another  instance  of  the  consequence  of 
being  careless  in  the  use  of  personal  Pronouns.  It  is  from 
Judge  Blackstone,  Book  II,  Chapter  6:  "  For,  the  cus- 
tom of  the  manor  has,  in  both  cases,  so  far  superseded  the 
will  of  the  Lord,  that,  provided  the  services  be  performed, 
or  stipulated  for  by  fealty,  he  can  not,  in  the  first  instance, 
refuse  to  admit  the  heir  of  his  tenant  upon  his  death  ;  nor, 
in  the  second,  can  he  remove  his  present  tenant  so  long  as 
he  lives."  Here  are  lord,  heir,  and  tenant,  all  confounded. 
We  may  guess  at  the  Judge's  meaning  ;  but,  we  can  not  say 
that  we  know  what  it  is  ;  we  can  not  say  that  we  are  cer- 
tain whose  life,  or  whose  death,  he  is  speaking  of. 

178.  Never  write  a  personal  Pronoun,  without  duly 
considering  what  noun  it  will,  upon  a  reading  of  the  sen- 
tence, be  found  to  relate  to.     There  must  be  a  noun,  ex- 


xvii.]       AS  RELATING  TO   PRONOUNS.  105 

pressed  or  understood,  to  which  the  Pronoun  clearly  relates, 
or  you  will  not  write  sense.  "  The  land-holder  has  been 
represented  as  a  monster  which  [that]  must  be  hunted 
down,  and  the  fund-holder  as  a  still  greater  evil,  and  both 
have  been  described  as  rapacious  creatures,  who  [that]  take 
from  the  people  fifteen  pence  out  of  every  quartern  loaf. 
They  have  been  told  that  Parliamentary  Reform  is  no  more 
than  a  half  measure,  changing  only  one  set  of  thieves  for 
another  ;  and  that  they  must  go  to  the  land,  as  nothing  short 
of  that  would  «avail  tkem."  This  is  taken  from  the  mem- 
orable report  of  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Lords,  in  181 7, 
on  which  report  the  cruel  dungeon  bill  was  passed.  Now, 
to  -what  nouns  do  these  Pronouns  relate  ?  Who  [which]  are 
the  nominatives  in  the  first  sentence  ?  The  land-holder 
and  the  fund-holder,  to  be  sure  ;  and,  therefore,  to  them  do 
the  Pronouns  relate.  These  lords  mean,  doubtless,  that 
the  people  had  been  told  that  the  people  must  go  to  the  land  ; 
that  nothing  else  would  avail  the  people ;  but,  though  they 
mean  this,  they  do  not  say  it  ;  and  this  part  of  their  report 
is  as  false  in  Grammar  as  other  parts  of  the  report  were  in 
fact. 

179.  When  there  are  two  or  more  nouns  connected  by 
a  copulative  conjunction,  and  when  a  personal  Pronoun  is 
made  use  of  to  relate  to  them,  or  stand  for  them,  you  must 
take  care  that  the  personal  Pronoun  agree  with  them  in 
number.  "  He  was  fonder  of  nothing  than  of  wit  and 
raillery:  but,  he  is  far  from  being  happy  in  it."  This 
Doctor  Blair,  in  his  19th  Lecture,  says  of  Lord  Shaftesbury. 
Either  wit  and  raillery  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  or  they 
are  different  things:  if  the  former,  one  of  the  words  is 
used  unnecessarily  ;  if  the  latter,  the  Pronoun  ought  to 
[should]  have  been  them  and  not  it. 

180.  When,  however,  the   nouns  take  the  disjunctive 


1 06  S  YNTA  X,  [letter 

conjunction  or,  the  Pronoun  must  be  in  the  singular :  as, 
•'  When  he  shoots  a  partridge,  a  pheasant,  or  a  woodcock, 
he  gives  it  away." 

181.  Nouns  of  number,  or  multitude,  such  as  A/ob, 
Parliament,  Rabble,  House  of  Commons,  Regiment,  Court  of 
King's  Bench,  Den  of  Thieves,  and  the  like,  may  have 
Pronouns  agreeing  with  them  either  in  the  singular  or  in 
the  plural  number  ;  for  we  may,  for  instance,  say  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  "  They  refused  to  hear  evidence 
against  Castlereagh  when  Mr.  Maddox  accused  him  of  hav- 
ing sold  a  seat "  ;  or,  "  //  refused  to  hear  evidence."  But, 
we  must  be  uniform  in  our  use  of  the  Pronoun  in  this  re- 
spect. We  must  not,  in  the  same  sentence,  and  applicable 
to  the  same  noun,  use  the  singular  in  one  part  of  the  sen- 
tence and  the  plural  in  another  part.  We  must  not,  in 
speaking  of  the  House  of  Commons,  for  instance,  say, 
"  They,  one  year  voted  unanimously  that  cheap  corn  was 
an  evil,  and  the  next  year,  it  voted  unanimously  that  dear 
corn  was  an  evil."  There  are  persons  who  [that]  pretend 
to  make  very  nice  distinctions  as  to  the  cases  when  these 
nouns  of  multitude  ought  to  take  the  singular,  and  when 
they  ought  to  take  the  plural,  Pronoun  ;  but  these  distinc- 
tions are  too  nice  to  be  of  any  real  use.  The  rule  is  this : 
that  nouns  of  multitude  may  take  either  the  singular,  or  the 
plural,  Pronoun  ;  but  not  both  in  the  same  sentence. 

182.  As  to  gender,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  make  a  mis- 
take. There  are  no  terminations  to  denote  gender,  except 
in  the  third  person  singular,  he,  she,  or  it.  We  do,  how* 
ever,  often  personify  this.  Speaking  of  a  nation,  we  often 
say  she  ;  of  the  sun,  we  say  he ;  of  the  moon,  we  say  she. 
We  may  personify  things  at  our  pleasure :  but,  we  must 
take  care  to  be  consistent,  and  not  call  a  thing  he,  or  she, 
in  one  part  of  a  sentence,  and  it  in  another  part.     The  oc« 


xvil]       AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         107 

casions  when  you  ought  to  [should]  personify  things,  and 
when  you  ought  [should]  not,  can  not  be  stated  in  any  pre- 
cise rule.  Your  own  taste  and  judgment  will  be  your  best 
guides.  I  shall  give  you  my  opinion  about  figures  of  speech 
in  a  future  Letter. 

183.  Nouns  which  [that]  denote  sorts,  or  kinds,  of  liv- 
ing  creatures,  and  which  [that]  do  not  of  themselves  dis- 
tinguish the  male  from  the  female,  such  as  rabbit,  hare,  hog, 
cat,  pheasant,  fowl,  take  the  neuter  Pronoun,  unless  we 
happen  to  know  the  gender  of  the  individual  we  are 
speaking  about.  If  I  see  you  with  a  cock  pheasant  in  your 
hand,  I  say,  "Where  did  you  shoot  him?"  but,  if  you  tell 
me  you  have  a  pheasant,  I  say,  "  Where  did  you  shoot  it?  " 

184.  The  personal  Pronouns  in  their  possessive  case 
must,  of  course,  agree  in  number  and  gender  with  their  cor- 
respondent Nouns  or  Pronouns  :  "  John  and  Thomas  have 
been  so  foolish  as  to  sell  their  land  and  to  purchase  what  is 
called  stock  ;  but  their  sister,  who  has  too  much  sense  to 
depend  on  a  bubble  for  her  daily  bread,  has  kept  Jier  land  ; 
theirs  is  gone  forever ;  but  hers  is  safe."  So  they  must, 
also,  in  their  objective  case  :  "  John  and  Thomas  will  lose 
the  interest  of  their  money,  which  will  soon  cease  to  be  paid 
to  them.  The  rents  of  their  sister  will  regularly  be  paid  to 
her ;  and  Richard  will  also  enjoy  his  income,  which  is  to  be 
paid  to  him  by  his  sister."  If  there  be  nouns  of  both  gen- 
ders used  before  Pronouns,  care  must  be  taken  that  no  con- 
fusion or  obscurity  arise  from  the  misuse  of  the  Pronoun. 
Hume  says :  "  They  declare  it  treason  to  attempt,  imagine, 
or  speak  evil  of  the  king,  queen,  or  his  heirs."  This  has, 
at  least,  a  meaning,  which  shuts  out  the  heirs  of  the  queen. 
In  such  a  case  the  feminine  as  well  as  the  masculine  pro- 
noun should  be  used  :  "  his  or  her  heirs." 

185.  Take  care,  in  using  the  personal  Pronouns,  not  to 


108  SYNTAX,  [lettem 

employ  the  objective  case  where  you  ought  to  employ  thi 
nominative  ;  and  take  care  also  of  the  opposite  error.  "  Him 
strikes  I  ;  Her  loves  he."  These  offend  the  ear  at  once. 
But  when  a  number  of  words  come  in  between  the  discord- 
ant parts,  the  ear  does  not  detect  the  error.  "  It  was  some 
of  those  who  [that]  came  hither  last  night,  and  went  away 
this  morning,  who  [that]  did  the  mischief,  and  not  my 
brother  and  me."  It  ought  to  be  "  my  brother  and  /." 
For,  I  am  not,  in  this  instance,  the  object  but  the  actor,  or 
supposed  actor.  "  Who  broke  that  glass?  "  "  It  was  me" 
It  ought  to  [should]  be  I ;  that  is  to  say,  "  It  was  /  who 
[that]  broke  it."  Fill  up  the  sentence  with  all  the  words 
that  are  understood  ;  and  if  there  be  errors,  you  will  soon 
discover  them.  After  the  words  than  and  as,  this  error,  of 
putting  the  objective  for  the  nominative,  is  frequently  com- 
mitted :  as,  "  John  was  very  rich,  but  Peter  was  richer  than 
him  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  as  learned  as  him,  or  any  of 
his  family."  It  ought  to  be  richer  than  he  ;  as  learned  as 
he ;  for  the  full  meaning  here  is,  richer  than  he  was ;  as 
learned  as  he  was."  But  it  does  not  always  happen  that 
the  nominative  case  comes  after  than  or  as  :  "  I  love  you 
more  than  him  "  j  "I  give  you  more  than  him  "  ;  "I  love 
you  as  well  as  him  "  :  that  is  to  say,  I  love  you  more  than  1 
love  him  j  I  give  you  more  than  I  give  to  him  ;  I  love  you 
as  well  as  /  love  him.  Take  away  him  and  put  he,  in  all 
these  cases,  and  the  grammar  is  just  as  good,  only  the  mean- 
ing is  quite  differe?it.  "  I  love  you  as  well  as  him,"  means 
that  I  love  you  as  well  as  I  love  him  ;  but  "  I  love  you  as 
well  as  he"  means,  that  I  love  you  as  well  as  he  loves  you. 

186.  You  see,  then,  of  what  importance  this  distinction 
of  cases  is.  But  you  must  not  look  for  this  word,  or  that 
word,  coming  before  or  coming  after,  to  be  your  guide.  It 
is  reason  which  [that]  is  to  be  your  sole  guide.     When  the 


xvn]      AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         109 

person  or  thing  represented  by  the  Pronoun  is  the  object, 
then  it  must  be  in  the  objective  case  ;  when  it  is  the  actor, 
or  when  it  is  merely  the  person  or  thing  said  to  be  this  or 
that,  then  it  must  be  in  the  nominative  case.  Read  again 
paragraphs  46,  47,  and  48,  of  Letter  V. 

187.  The  errors  committed  with  regard  to  the  con- 
founding of  cases  arise  most  frequently  when  the  Pronouns 
are  placed,  in  the  sentences,  at  a  great  distance  from  the 
words  which  [that]  are  connected  with  them,  and  which 
[that]  determine  the  case.  "  He  and  his  sister,  and  not 
their  uncle  and  cousins,  the  estate  was  given  to."  Here  is 
nothing  that  sounds  harsh  ;  but,  bring  the  Pronoun  close 
to  the  preposition  that  demands  the  objective  case  ;  say  the 
estate  was  given  to  he ;  and  then  you  perceive  the  gross- 
ness  of  the  error  in  a  moment.  "  The  work  of  national 
ruin  was  pretty  effectually  carried  on  by  the  ministers ;  but 
more  effectually  by  the  paper-money  makers  than  they" 
This  does  not  hurt  the  ear ;  but  it  ought  to  be  them  ; 
"  more  effectually  than  by  them." 

188.  The  Pronouns  mine,  thine,  theirs,  yours,  hers,  his, 
stand  frequently  by  themselves  ;  that  is  to  say,  not  followed 
by  any  noun.  But  then  the  noun  is  understood,  "  That  is 
hers."  That  is  to  say,  her  property ;  her  hat,  or  whatever 
else.     No  difficulty  can  arise  in  the  use  of  these  words. 

189.  But  the  use  of  the  personal  Pronoun  it  is  a  subject 
of  considerable  importance.  Read  again  paragraphs  60 
and  61,  Letter  VI.  Think  well  upon  what  you  find  there ; 
and  when  you  have  done  that,  proceed  with  me.  This  Pro- 
noun with  the  verb  to  be,  is  in  constant  use  in  our  language. 
To  say,  "  Your  uncle  came  hither  last  night,"  is  not  the 
same  thing  as  to  say,  "  It  was  your  uncle  who  came  hither 
last  night,"  though  the  fact  related  be  the  same.  "It  is  1 
who  write"  is  very  different    from  "/  wtite,"  though  in 


no  S  YN  TA  X,  [letter 

both  cases,  my  being  writing  is  the  fact  very  clearly  ex- 
pressed,  and  is  one  and  the  same  fact.  "  //  is  those  men 
who  [that]  deserve  well  of  their  country,"  means  a  great 
deal  more  than,  "  Those  men  deserve  well  of  their  coun- 
try." The  principal  verbs  are  the  same  ;  the  prepositions 
are  the  same  ;  but  the  real  meaning  is  different.  "  //  is 
the  dews  and  showers  that  make  the  grass  grow,"  is  very 
different  from  merely  observing,  that,  "  Dews  and  showers 
make  the  grass  grow." 

190.  Doctor  Lowth  has  given  it  as  his  opinion  that  it 
is  not  correct  to  place  plural  nouns,  or  pronouns,  after  the  it, 
thus  used  ;  an  opinion  which  [that]  arose  from  the  want  of 
a  little  more  reflection.  The  it  has  nothing  to  do,  grammati- 
cally speaking,  with  the  rest  of  the  sentence.  The  it,  together 
with  the  verb  to  be,  express  [expresses  ?]  states  of  being,  in 
some  instances,  and  in  others  this  phrase  serves  to  mark,  in 
a  strong  manner,  the  subject  in  a  mass,  of  what  is  about  to 
be  affirmed  or  denied.  Of  course,  this  phrase,  which  is  in 
almost  incessant  use,  may  be  followed  by  nouns  and  pro- 
nouns in  the  singular,  or  in  the  plural  number.  I  forbear 
to  multiply  examples,  or  to  enumerate  the  various  ways  in 
which  this  phrase  is  used,  because  one  grain  of  reasoning 
is  worth  whole  tons  of  memory.  The  principle  being  once 
in  your  mind,  it  will  be  ready  to  be  applied  to  every  class 
of  cases,  and  every  particular  case  of  each  class. 

191.  For  want  of  reliance  on  principles,  instead  of  ex- 
amples, how  the  latter  have  swelled  in  number,  and  gram- 
mar books  in  bulk  !  But,  it  is  much  easier  to  quote  examples 
than  to  lay  down  principles.  For  want  of  a  little  thought 
as  to  the  matter  immediately  before  us,  some  grammarians 
have  found  out  "  an  absolute  case,"  as  they  call  it ;  and  Mr. 
Lindley  Murray  gives  an  instance  of  it  in  these  words  : 
"  Shame  being  lost,  all  virtue  is  lost."     The  full  meaning  of 


xvii.]       AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         ill 

the  sentence  is  this  :  "  It  being,  or  the  state  of  things  being 
such,  that  shame  is  lost,  all  virtue  is  lost." 

192.  Owing  to  not  seeing  the  use  and  power  of  this  it 
in  their  true  light,  many  persons,  after  long  puzzling,  think 
they  must  make  the  pronouns,  which  [that]  immediately 
follow,  conform  to  the  cases,  which  [that]  the  verbs  and 
prepositions  of  the  sentence  demand.  "  It  is  them,  and  not 
the  people  whom  [that]  I  address  myself  to."  "It  was  him, 
and  not  the  other  man,  that  I  sought  after"  The  preposi- 
tions to  and  after  demand  an  objective  case  ;  and  they  have 
it  in  the  words  whom  and  that.  The  Pronouns  which  [that] 
follow  the  it,  and  the  verb  to  be,  must  always  be  in  the 
nominative  case.  And,  therefore,  in  the  above  examples,  it 
should  be,  "  It  is  they,  and  not  the  other  people  "  ;  "  It  was 
he,  and  not  the  other  man." 

193.  This  it  with  its  verb  to  be  is  sometimes  employed 
with  the  preposition  for,  with  singular  force  and  effect. 
u  It  is  for  the  guilty  to  live  in  fear,  to  skulk  and  to  hang 
their  heads ;  but  for  the  innocent  it  is  to  enjoy  ease  and 
tranquillity  of  mind,  to  scorn  all  disguise,  and  to  carry  them- 
selves erect."  This  is  much  more  forcible  than  to  say, 
"  The  guilty  generally  live  in  fear,"  and  so  on,  throughout 
the  sentence.  The  word  for,  in  this  case,  denotes  appro- 
priateness, or  fitness ;  and,  the  full  expression  would  be 
this  :  "  To  the  state  of  being,  or  state  of  things  called  guilti- 
ness, to  live  in  fear  is  fitting,  or  is  appropriated  If  you 
pay  attention  to  the  reason  on  which  the  use  of  these  words 
is  founded,  you  will  never  be  at  a  loss  to  use  them  properly. 

194.  The  word  it  is  the  greatest  troubler  that  I  know 
of  in  language.  It  is  so  small,  and  so  convenient,  that  few 
are  careful  enough  in  using  it.  Writers  seldom  spare  this 
word.  Whenever  they  are  at  a  loss  for  either  a  nominative 
or  an  objective  to  their  sentence,  they,  without  any  kind  of 


H2  SYNTAX,  [letter 

ceremony,  clap  in  an  it.  A  very  remarkable  instance  of 
this  pressing  of  poor  it  into  actual  service,  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  Grammar  and  of  sense,  occurs  in  a  piece  of  compo- 
sition, where  we  might,  with  justice,  insist  on  correctness. 
This  piece  is  on  the  subject  of  Grammar  ;  it  is  a  piece  writ- 
ten by  a  Doctor  of  Divinity,  and  read  by  him  to  students  in 
grammar  and  language  in  an  academy  ;  and  the  very  sen- 
tence that  I  am  now  about  to  quote  is  selected,  by  the  author 
of  a  Grammar,  as  testimony  of  high  authority  in  favor  of 
the  excellence  of  his  work.  Surely,  if  correctness  be  ever 
to  be  expected,  it  must  be  in  a  case  like  this.  I  allude  [re- 
fer] to  two  sentences  in  the  "  Charge  of  the  Reverend 
Doctor  Abercrombie  to  the  Senior  Class  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Academy,"  published  in  1806  ;  which  sentences  have 
been  selected  and  published  by  Mr.  Lindley  Murray,* 
as  a  testimonial  of  the  merits  of  his  Grammar ;  and  which 
sentences  are,  by  Mr.  Murray,  given  to  us  in  the  follow- 
ing words :  "  The  unwearied  exertions  of  this  gentleman 
have  done  more  toward  elucidating  the  obscurities,  and 
embellishing  the  structure  of  our  language,  than  any  other 
wtiter  on  the  subject.  Such  a  work  has  long  been  wanted  ; 
and,  from  the  success  with  which  it  is  executed,  can  not  be 
too  highly  appreciated"  [valued]. 

195.  As,  in  the  learned  Doctor's  opinion,  obscurities 
can  be  elucidated,  and  as,  in  the  same  opinion,  Mr.  Mur- 
ray is  an  able  hand  at  this  kind  of  work,  it  would  not  be 
amiss  were  the  grammarian  to  try  his  skill  upon  this  article 

*  Lindley  Murray,  1 745-1826.  His  English  Grammar  first  appeared 
in  1795,  and  has  since  that  time  enjoyed  an  extensive  popularity.  It  is 
not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  Cobbett  is  the  only  author  that  has 
questioned  its  merits.  On  the  contrary,  the  gravest  exceptions  have 
been  taken  to  some  of  its  characteristics  by  critics  whose  opinions  cam 
not  safely  be  disregarded. 


xvn.]       AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         II3 

from  the  hand  of  his  dignified  eulogist  ;  for  here  is,  if  one 
may  use  the  expression,  a  constellation  of  obscurities.  Our 
poor  oppressed  it,  which  we  find  forced  into  the  Doctor's 
service  in  the  second  sentence,  relates  to  "  such  a  work," 
though  this  work  is  nothing  that  has  an  existence,  notwith- 
standing it  is  said  to  be  "  executed."  In  the  first  sentence,  the 
'*  exertions  "  become,  all  of  a  sudden,  a  "  writer"  :  the  exer- 
tions have  done  more  than  "  any  other  writer  "  ;  for,  mind  you, 
it  is  not  the  gentleman  that  has  done  anything :  it  is  "  the  ex- 
ertions "  that  have  done  what  is  said  to  be  done.  The  word 
gentleman  is  in  the  possessive  [objective?]  case,  and  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  action  of  the  sentence.  Let  us  give 
the  sentence  a  turn,  and  the  Doctor  and  the  grammarian 
will  hear  how  it  will  sound.  "  This  gentleman's  exertions 
have  done  more  than  any  other  writer"  This  is  upon  a  level 
with  "  This  gentleman's  dog  has  killed  more  hares  than  any 
other  sportsman ."  No  doubt  Doctor  Abercrombie  meant  to 
say,  "  The  exertions  of  this  gentleman  have  done  more  than 
those  of  any  other  writer.  Such  a  work  as  this  gentleman's 
has  long  been  wanted  :  his  work,  seeing  the  successful 
manner  of  its  execution,  can  not  be  too  highly  commended." 
Meant!  No  doubt  at  all  of  that  !  And  when  we  hear  a 
Hampshire  plowboy  say,  "  Poll  Cherrycheek  have  giv'd  I 
thick  handkecher,"  we  know  very  well  that  he  means  to 
say,  "  Poll  Cherrycheek  has  given  me  this  handkerchief ; " 
and  yet,  we  are  but  too  apt  to  laugh  at  him,  and  to  call  him 
ignorant ;  which  is  wrong  ;  because  he  has  no  pretensions 
co  a  knowledge  of  Grammar,  and  he  may  be  very  skillful  as 
a  plowboy.  However,  we  will  hot  laugh  at  Doctor  Aber- 
crombie, whom  I  knew,  many  years  ago,  for  a  very  kind 
and  worthy  man,  and  who  baptized  your  elder  brother  and 
elder  sister.  But  if  we  may,  in  any  case,  be  allowed  to 
laugh  at  the  ignorance  of  our  fellow-creatures,  that  case  cei 


xi4  SYNTAX,  [letter 

tainly  does  arise  when  we  see  a  professed  grammarian,  the 
author  of  voluminous  precepts  and  examples  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Grammar,  producing,  in  imitation  of  the  possessors 
of  invaluable  medical  secrets,  testimonials  vouching  for  the 
efficacy  of  his  literary  panacea,  and  when,  in  those  very 
testimonials,  we  find  most  flagrant  instances  of  bad 
Grammar. 

196.  However,  my  dear  James,  let  this  strong  and  strik- 
ing instance  of  the  misuse  of  the  word  it  serve  you  in  the 
way  of  caution.  Never  put  an  it  upon  paper  without  think- 
ing  well  of  what  you  are  about.  When  I  see  many  its  in  a 
page,  I  always  tremble  for  the  writer. 

197.  We  now  come  to  the  second  class  of  Pronouns; 
that  is  to  say,  the  Relative  Pronouns,  of  which  you  have 
had  some  account  in  Letter  VI,  paragraphs  62,  63,  64,  65,. 
and  66  ;  which  paragraphs  you  should  now  read  over  again 
with  attention. 

198.  Who,  which  becomes  whose  in  the  possessive  case, 
and  whom  in  the  objective  case,  is,  in  its  use,  confined  to 
rational  beings  ;  for  though  some  writers  do  say,  "  the 
country  whose  fertility  is  great,"  and  the  like,  it  is  not  cor- 
rect. We  must  say,  "the  country  the  fertility  of  which." 
But  if  we  personify ;  if,  for  instance,  we  call  a  nation  a 
she,  or  the  sun  a  he,  we  must  then,  if  we  have  need  of  rela- 
tive Pronouns,  take  these,  or  the  word  that,  which  is  a  rela- 
tive applicable  to  rational  as  well  as  irrational  and  even  in- 
animate beings. 

["  Mr.  George  Washington  Moon  discountenances  the 
use  of  whose  as  the  possessive  of  which.  He  says,  '  The 
best  writers,  when  speaking  of  inanimate  objects,  use  of 
which  instead  of  whose.'  The  correctness  of  this  statement 
is  doubtful.  The  truth  is,  I  think,  that  good  writers  use 
that  form  for  the  possessive  case  of  which  that  in  their 


xvii. j      AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         115 

judgment  is,  in  each  particular  case,  the  more  euphonious, 
giving  the  preference,  perhaps,  to  of  which.  On  this  sub- 
ject Dr.  Campbell  says  :  '  The  possessive  of  who  is  properly 
whose.  The  pronoun  which,  originally  indeclinable,  had 
no  possessive.  This  was  supplied,  in  the  common  peri- 
phrastic manner,  by  the  help  of  the  preposition  and  the 
article.  But,  as  this  could  not  fail  to  enfeeble  the  expres- 
sion, when  so  much  time  was  given  to  mere  conjunctives, 
all  our  best  authors,  both  in  prose  and  verse,  have  now 
come  regularly  to  adopt,  in  such  cases,  the  possessive  of 
who,  and  thus  have  substituted  one  syllable  in  the  room  of 
three,  as  in  the  example  following  :  "  Philosophy,  whose  end 
is  to  instruct  us  in  the  knowledge  of  nature,"  for  "  Philoso- 
phy, the  end  of  which  is  to  instruct  us."  Some  grammarians 
remonstrate  ;  but  it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  use,  well 
established,  must  give  law  to  grammar,  and  not  grammar 
to  use.' 

"  Professor  Bain  says  :  '  Whose,  although  the  possessive 
of  who,  and  practically  of  which,  is  yet  frequently  em- 
ployed for  the  purpose  of  restriction  :  "  We  are  the  more 
likely  to  guard  watchfully  against  those  faults  whose  de- 
formity we  have  seen  fully  displayed  in  others."  This  is 
better  than  "  the  deformity  of  which  we  have  seen."  "  Prop- 
ositions of  whose  truth  we  have  no  certain  knowledge." — 
Locke.'  Dr.  Fitzedward  Hall  says  that  the  use  of  whose 
for  of  which,  where  the  antecedent  is  not  only  irrational 
but  inanimate,  has  had  the  support  of  high  authority  for 
several  hundred  years." — The  Verbalist^ 

199.  The  errors  which  [that]  are  most  frequent  in  the 
use  of  these  relative  Pronouns  arise  from  not  taking  care  to 
use  who  and  whom,  when  they  are  respectively  demanded 
by  the  verbs  or  prepositions.  "To  who  did  you  speak? 
Whom  is  come  to-day?"     These  sentences  are  too  glar 


1 1 6  S  YN  TA  X,  [letter 

ingly  wrong  to  pass  from  our  pens  to  the  paper  ;  but,  as 
in  the  case  of  personal  Pronouns,  when  the  relatives  are 
placed,  in  the  sentence,  at  a  distance  from  their  antecedents, 
or  verbs,  or  prepositions,  the  ear  gives  us  no  assistance. 
"  Who,  of  all  the  men  in  the  world,  do  you  think  I  saw, 
the  other  day  ?  Who,  for  the  sake  of  his  numerous  services, 
the  office  was  given  to."  In  both  these  cases  it  ought  to 
be  whom.  Bring  the  verb  in  the  first,  and  the  preposition 
in  the  second  case,  closer  to  the  relative  :  as,  who  I  saw  ; 
to  who  the  office  was  given  ;  and  you  see  the  error  at  once. 
But  take  care  !  "  Whom,  of  all  the  men  in  the  world,  do 
you  think  was  chosen  to  be  sent  as  an  embassador  ?  Whom, 
for  the  sake  of  his  numerous  services,  had  an  office  of  honor 
bestowed  upon  him."  These  are  nominative  cases,  and 
ought  to  [should]  have  who ;  that  is  to  say,  "  who  was 
chosen  ;  who  had  an  office!'  I  will  not  load  you  with  nu- 
merous examples.  Read  again  about  the  nominative  and 
objective  cases  in  Letter  V.  Apply  your  reason  to  the  sub- 
ject. Who  is  the  nominative,  and  whom  the  objective. 
Think  well  about  the  matter,  and  you  will  want  no  more 
examples. 

200.  There  is,  however,  an  erroneous  way  of  employ- 
ing whom,  which  I  must  point  out  to  your  particular  atten- 
tion, because  it  is  so  often  seen  in  very  good  writers,  and 
because  it  is  very  deceiving  :  "  The  Duke  of  Argyll,  than 
whom  no  man  was  more  hearty  in  the  cause."  "  Cromwell, 
than  whom  no  man  was  better  skilled  in  artifice."  A  hun- 
dred such  phrases  might  be  collected  from  Hume,  Black- 
stone,  and  even  from  Doctors  Blair  and  Johnson.  Yet 
they  are  bad  Grammar.  In  all  such  cases,  who  should  be 
made  use  of:  for,  it  is  nominative  and  not  objective.  "No 
man  was  more  hearty  in  the  cause  than  he  was ;  no  man 
was  better  skilled  in  artifice  than  he  was."     It  is  a  very 


xvii.]       AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         II) 

common  Parliament-house  phrase,  and  therefore  presump- 
tively corrupt ;  but  it  is  a  Doctor  Johnson  phrase  too: 
"  Pope,  than  whom  few  men  had  more  vanity."  The 
Doctor  did  not  say,  "  Myself,  than  whom  few  men  have 
been  found  more  base,  having,  in  my  Dictionary,  described 
a  pensioner  as  a  slave  of  state,  and  having  afterward  my- 
self become  a  pensioner."  * 

201.  I  differ,  as  to  this  matter,  from  Bishop  Lowth, 
who  says  that  "  The  relative  who,  having  reference  to  no 
verb  or  preposition  understood,  but  only  to  its  antecedent, 
when  it  follows  than,  is  always  in  the  objective  case  :  even 
though  the  Pronoun,  if  substituted  in  its  place,  would  be  in 
the  nominative."  And,  then,  he  gives  an  instance  from 
Milton :  "  Beelzebub,  than  whom,  Satan  except,  none 
higher  sat."  It  is  curious  enough  that  this  sentence  of  the 
Bishop  is,  itself,  ungrammatical  !  Our  poor  unfortunate  it 
is  so  placed  as  to  make  it  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  the 
Bishop  meant  it  to  relate  to  tuho,  or  to  its  antecedent.  How- 
ever, we  know  his  meaning  ;  but,  though  he  says  that  who, 
when  it  follows  than,  is  always  in  the  objective  case,  he 
gives  us  no  reason  for  this  departure  from  a  clear  general 
principle :  unless  we  are  to  regard  as  a  reason  the  exam- 
ple of  Milton,  who  has  committed  many  hundreds,  if  not 
thousands,  of  grammatical  errors,  many  of  which  the  Bishop 
himself  has  pointed  out.  There  is  a  sort  of  side-wind 
attempt  at  reason  in  the  words,  "  having  reference  to  no 

*  The  definition  given  by  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his  Dictionary,  of  Pen- 
sioner, is  as  follows  :  "  Pensioner — A  slave  of  state  hired  by  a  stipend 
to  obey  his  master. 

'  In  Britain's  senate  he  a  seat  obtains, 
And  one  more  pensioner  St.  Stephen's  gains.' — Pope." 
Under  Pension  Dr.  Johnson  says :  kl  In  England  it  is  generally  under- 
stood to  mean  pay  given  to  a  state  hireling  for  treason  to  his  country." 


Ii8  SYNTAX,  [letter 

verb  or  preposition  understood."  I  do  not  see  the  reason, 
even  if  this  could  be :  but,  it  appears  to  me  impossible  that 
a  Noun  or  a  Pronoun  can  exist  in  a  grammatical  state  with- 
out having  reference  to  some  verb  ox  preposition,  either  ex- 
pressed or  understood.  What  is  meant  by  Milton  ?  "  Than 
Beelzebub  none  sat  higher,  except  Satan."  And  when,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  repetition  of  the  word  Beelzebub,  the 
relative  becomes  necessary,  the  full  construction  must  be, 
"  no  devil  sat  higher  than  who  sat,  except  Satan  "  ;  and  not, 
"  no  devil  sat  higher  than  whom  sat."  The  supposition 
that  there  can  be  a  Noun  or  Pronoun,  which  [that]  has 
reference  to  no  verb,  and  no  preposition,  is  certainly  a  mis- 
take. 

[Of  this,  Dr.  Fitzedward  Hall  remarks,  in  his  "  Recent 
Exemplifications  of  False  Philology  "  :  "  That  any  one  but 
Cobbett  would  abide  this  as  English  is  highly  improbable  ; 
and  how  the  expression — a  quite  classical  one — which  he 
discards  can  be  justified  grammatically,  except  by  calling 
its  than  a  preposition,  others  may  resolve  at  their  leisure 
and  pleasure."] 

202.  That,  as  a  relative,  may,  as  we  have  seen,  be  ap- 
plied either  to  persons  or  [to]  things  ;  but  it  has  no  posses- 
sive case,  and  no  change  to  denote  the  other  two  cases. 
We  say,  "  the  man  that  gives,  and  the  man  that  a  thing  is 
given  to."  But  there  are  some  instances  when  it  can  hardly 
be  called  proper  [is  not  proper]  to  use  that  instead  of  who  or 
whom.  Thus,  directly  after  a  proper  name,  as  in  Hume  : 
s<  The  Queen  gave  orders  for  taking  into  custody  the  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  who  fell  on  his  knees  to  the  Earl  of  Arun- 
del, that  [who]  arrested  him."  Who  would  have  been  much 
better,  though  there  was  a  who  just  before  in  the  sentence. 
In  the  same  author  :  "  Douglas,  zaho  had  prepared  his  peo- 
f       and  that  [who]  was  bent  upon  taking  his  part  openly." 


xvii.]      AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         119 

This  never  ought  to  [should]  be,  though  we  see  it  continu- 
ally. Either  may  do  ;  but  both  never  ought  to  [should]  be 
relatives  of  the  same  antecedent,  in  the  same  sentence. 
And,  indeed,  it  is  very  awkward,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  to 
use  both  in  the  same  sentence,  though  relating  to  different 
antecedents,  if  all  these  be  names  of  rational  beings.  "  Th<- 
Lords,  who  [that]  made  the  first  false  report,  and  the  Com- 
mons, that  seemed  to  vie  with  their  Lordships  in  falsehood, 
became  equally  detested."  That,  as  a  relative,  can  not 
take  the  preposition  or  verb  immediately  before  it :  as» 
"  The  man  to  whom  I  gave  the  book "  ;  but  I  can  not 
say,  "  the  man  to  that  I  gave  the  book  "  nor  ;  "  the  knife  to 
that  I  put  a  handle."  "  Having  defeated  whom,  he  re- 
mained quiet  "  ;  but  we  can  not,  in  speaking  of  persons, 
say,  "  Having  defeated  that,  he  remained  quiet." 

[That  is  right,  if  there  were  several  earls  of  Arundel, 
not  otherwise. — "  The  Lords  who,"  etc.  As  certain  lords 
are  clearly  meant,  the  relative  must  be  that.  That  "  either 
may  do,"  is  not  true.] 

203.  Which,  as  a  relative  Pronoun,  is  applied  to  irra- 
tional beings  only,  and,  as  to  those  beings,  it  may  be  em- 
ployed indifferently  with  that,  except  in  the  cases  where 
the  relative  comes  directly  after  a  verb  or  a  preposition,  in 
the  manner  just  spoken  of.  We  say,  "  the  town,  the  horse, 
the  tree,  which  ;  or  to  which  "  ;  and  so  on.  And  we  say, 
"  the  town,  the  tree,  the  horse,  that"  ;  but  not  to  or  for  that. 

204.  We  may  in  speaking  of  nouns  of  multitude,  when 
the  multitude  consists  of  rational  creatures,  and  when  we 
choose  to  consider  it  as  a  singular  noun,  make  use  of  who 
or  whom,  or  of  zuhich,  just  as  we  please.  We  may  say, 
"  the  crowd  which  was  going  up  the  street "  ;  or,  "  the 
crowd  who  was  going  up  the  street  "  ;  but  we  can  not 
make  use  of  both  in  the   same  sentence    and  relating  to 


120  SYNTAX,  [letter 

the  same  noun.  Therefore,  we  can  not  say,  "  the  crowd 
who  was  going  up  the  street  and  which  was  making  a  great 
noise."  We  must  take  the  who,  or  the  which,  in  both  places. 
If  such  noun  of  multitude  be  used  in  the  plural  number, 
we  then  go  on  with  the  idea  of  the  rationality  of  the  indi- 
viduals in  our  minds  ;  and  therefore  we  make  use  of  who 
and  whom :  "  The  assembly,  ?vho  rejected  the  petition, 
but  to  whom  another  was  immediately  presented." 

[It  is  certainly  better  to  say,  The  crowd  or  the  assembly 
which  (or  that,  if  the  sense  demands  it),  than  to  say,  The 
crowd  or  the  assembly  who.~\ 

205.  Who,  whose,  whom,  and  which,  are  employed  in 
asking  questions  ;  to  which,  in  this  capacity,  we  must  add 
what:  "  Who  is  in  the  house?  Whose  gun  is  that?  Whom 
do  you  love  best  ?  What  has  happened  to-day  ?  "  What 
means,  generally,  as  a  relative,  "  the  thing  which  " :  as, 
"  Give  me  what  [=  the  thing  that]  I  want."  It  may  be  used 
in  the  nominative  and  in  the  objective  case  :  "  What  hap- 
pens to-day  may  happen  next  week  ;  but  I  know  not  to  what 
we  shall  come  at  last  "  ;  or,  "  The  thing  which  [that]  hap- 
pens to-day  may  happen  next  week  ;  but  I  know  not  tJie 
thing  which  [that]  we  shall  come  to  at  last." 

206.  Which,  though  in  other  cases  it  can  not  be  em- 
ployed as  a  relative  with  nouns  which  [that]  are  the  names 
of  rational  beings,  is,  with  such  nouns,  employed  in  asking 
questions  :  as,  "  The  tyrants  allege  that  the  petition  was 
disrespectful.  Which  of  the  tyrants  ?  "  Again  :  "  One  of 
the  petitioners  had  his  head  cleaved  by  the  yeomanry. 
Which  ?  "  That  is  to  say,  "  Which  of  the  petitioners  was 
it?" 

207.  What,  when  used  in  asking  for  a  repetition  of 
what  has  been  said:  as,  what?  means,  "Tell  me  that 
which  [that]   or  the  thing  which  [that]  you  have  said." 


xvii.]      AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         1 21 

This  word  is  used,  and  with  great  force,  in  the  way  of  ex- 
clamation :  "  What,  rob  us  of  our  right  of  suffrage,  and 
then,  when  we  pray  to  have  our  right  restored  to  us,  shut 
us  up  in  dungeons  !  "  The  full  meaning  is  this :  "  What 
do  tfiey  do  ?     They  rob  us  of  our  right." 

203.  It  is  not,  in  general,  advisable  to  crowd  these  rela= 
tives  together :  but  it  sometimes  happens  that  it  is  done. 
"  Who,  that  has  any  sense,  can  believe  such  palpable  false- 
hoods? What,  that  can  be  invented,  can  disguise  these 
falsehoods  ?  By  whom,  that  you  ever  [have]  heard  of,  was 
a  pardon  obtained  from  the  mercy  of  a  tyrant  ?  Some 
men's  rights  have  been  taken  from  them  by  force  and  by 
genius,  but  whose,  that  the  world  ever  [has]  heard  of  be- 
fore, were  taken  away  by  ignorance  and  stupidity  ?  " 

209.  Whosoever,  whosesoever,  whomsoever,  whatsoever, 
whichsoever,  follow  the  rules  applicable  to  the  original 
words.  The  so  is  an  adverb,  which,  in  its  general  accepta- 
tion, means  in  like  manner ;  and  ever,  which  is  also  an  ad- 
verb, means,  at  any  time,  at  all  times,  or  always.  These 
two  words  thus  joined  in  whosoever,  mean,  who  in  any  case 
that  may  be  ;  and  so  of  the  other  three  words.  We  some- 
times omit  the  so,  and  say,  whoever,  whomever,  whatever^ 
and  even  whosever.  It  is  a  mere  abbreviation.  The  so 
is  understood  ;  and  it  is  best  not  to  omit  to  write  it.  Some- 
times the  soever  is  separated  from  the  Pronoun :  "  What 
man  soever  he  might  be."  But  the  main  thing  is  to  under- 
stand the  reason  upon  which  the  use  of  these  words  stands  ; 
for,  if  you  understand  that,  you  will  always  use  the  words 
properly. 

210.  The  Demonstrative  Pronouns  have  been  described 
in  Letter  VI,  paragraph  67  ;  and  I  have  very  little  to  add 
to  what  is  there  said  upon  the  subject.  They  never  change 
their  endings,  to  denote  gender  or  case  ;  and  the  propel 


122  SYNTAX,  [letter 

application  of  them  is  so  obvious  that  it  requires  little  to  be 
said  about  it.  However,  we  shall  hear  more  of  these  Pro- 
nouns, when  we  come  to  the  Syntax  of  Verbs.  One  ob- 
servation I  will  make  here,  however,  because  it  will  serve 
to  caution  you  against  the  commission  of  a  very  common 
error.  You  will  hardly  say,  "  Them  that  write  '  ;  but  you 
may  say,  as  many  do,  "  We  ought  always  to  have  a  great  re- 
gard for  them  who  [that]  are  wise  and  good."  It  ought  to 
be,  "for  those  who  [that]  are  wise  and  good  "  ;  because  the 
word  persons  is  understood:  "  those  persons  who  [that]  are 
wise  and  good  "  :  and  it  is  bad  grammar  to  say,  "  them  per- 
sons who  [that]  are  wise  and  good."  But  observe,  in  another 
sense,  this  sentence  would  be  correct.  If  I  be  [am]  speak- 
ing of  particular  persons  and  if  my  object  be  [is]  to  make  you 
understand  that  they  are  wise  and  good,  and  also  that  I  love 
them  ;  then  I  say,  very  correctly,  "  I  love  them,  who  [  ;  they] 
are  wise  and  good."  Thus  :  "  The  father  has  two  children  : 
he  loves  them  who  [  ;  they]  are  wise  and  good  ;  and  they 
love  him,  who  [  ;  he]  is  very  indulgent."  It  is  the  mean- 
ing that  must  be  your  guide,  and  reason  must  tell  you  what 
is  the  meaning.  "  They,  who  can  write,  save  a  great  deal  of 
bodily  labor,"  is  very  different  from  "  Those  who  [that]  can 
write  save  a  great  deal  of  bodily  labor."  The  those  stands 
for  those  persons ;  that  is  to  say,  any  persons,  persons  in 
general,  who  [that]  can  write  ;  whereas,  the  they,  as  here 
used,  relates  to  some  particular  persons  ;  and  the  sentence 
means  that  these  particular  persons  are  able  to  write,  and, 
by  that  means,  they  save  a  great  deal  of  bodily  labor. 
Doctor  Blair,  in  his  21st  Lecture,  has  fallen  into  an 
error  of  this  sort :  thus,  "  These  two  paragraphs  are  ex- 
tremely worthy  of  Mr.  Addison,  and  exhibit  a  style,  which 
[that]  they,  who  [that]  can  successfully  imitate,  may  esteem 
themselves  happy."     It  ought  to  be   those  instead  of  they. 


xvii.]      AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNS.         123 

But,  this  is  not  the  only  fault  in  this  sentence.  Why  say 
"  extremely  worthy  "  ?  Worthiness  is  a  quality  which  [that] 
hardly  admits  of  degrees,  and  surely  it  does  not  admit  of 
extremes  !  Then,  again,  at  the  close  :  to  esteem  is  to  prize \ 
to  set  value  on,  to  value  highly.  How,  then,  can  men  "  es- 
teem themselves  happy"?  How  can  they  prize  themselves 
happy?  How  can  they  highly  value  themselves  happy? 
My  dear  James,  let  chamber-maids  and  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  learned  Doctors,  write  thus :  be 
you  content  with  plain  words  which  [that]  convey  your 
meaning  ;  say  that  a  thing  is  quite  worthy  of  a  man  ;  and 
that  men  may  deem  themselves  happy.  It  is  truly  curious 
that  Lindley  Murray  should,  even  in  the  motto  in  the 
title-page  of  his  English  Grammar,  have  selected  a  sentence 
containing  a  grammatical  error  ;  still  more  curious  that  he 
should  have  found  this  sentence  in  Doctor  Blair's  Lectures 
on  Language ;  and  most  curious  of  all  that  this  sentence 
should  be  intended  to  inculcate  the  great  utility  of  correct- 
ness  in  the  composing  of  sentences.  Here,  however,  are 
the  proofs  of  this  combination  of  curious  circumstances: 
"  They  who  [that]  are  learning  to  compose,  and  arrange 
their  sentences  with  accuracy  and  order,  are  learning,  at 
the  same  time,  to  think  with  accuracy  and  order."*  Poh! 
Never  think  a  man  either  learned  or  good  merely  on  ac- 
count of  his  being  called  a  Doctor. 

[The  using  of  those  instead  of  they,  as  Cobbett  suggests, 
does  not  suffice  to  make  the  meaning  unquestionable.  If 
we  would  shun  even  the  possibility  of  being  misunderstood, 
we  must  use  the  relatives  in  this  wise:  "Those  persons 
(certain  persons  being  understood  or  designated)  who 
have  (all)  learned  to  write,  are  able   to  do  it." — "  Those 

*  This  sentence  is  retained  in  the  eighth  edition  of  Lindley  Murray's 
English  Grammar.     London,  1859. 


124  S  YN  TA  X,  [letter 

persons  (only)  that  have  learned  to  write  (i.  e.,  such  persons 
as  have  learned  to  write),  are  able  to  do  it."] 

211.  The  Indeterminate  Pronouns  have  been  enumer- 
ated in  Letter  VI,  paragraph  71.  They  are  sometimes 
Adjectives,  as  is  stated  in  that  paragraph.  Whoever,  what- 
ever, and  whichever  (that  is,  whosoever,  whatsoever,  which- 
soever),  though  relatives,  are  indeterminate  too.  But,  in- 
deed, it  signifies  little  how  these  words  are  classed.  It  is 
the  use  of  them  that  we  ought  to  [should]  look  to.  Every, 
which  I  have  now  reckoned  among  these  Pronouns,  is  never, 
nowadays,  used  without  a  noun,  and  is,  therefore,  in  fact, 
an  adjective.  The  error  that  is  most  frequently  committed 
in  using  these  Pronouns  is  the  putting  of  the  plural  verb  or 
plural  Pronoun  after  nouns  preceded  by  every,  each,  or 
either ;  especially  in  the  case  of  every  :  as,  "  every  man  ; 
every  body  ;  every  house."  These  are  understood  to  mean, 
all  the  men,  all  the  people,  all  the  houses ;  but,  only  one 
man,  one  body,  one  house,  is  spoken  of,  and  therefore  the 
verb  ought  to  [should]  be  in  the  singular :  as,  "  every  body 
is  disgusted  "  ;  and  not  "  every  body  are  disgusted." 

212.  Before  you  use  any  of  these  words,  you  should 
think  well  on  their  true  meaning ;  for,  if  you  do  this,  you 
will  seldom  commit  errors  in  the  use  of  them.  Doctor 
Johnson  in  his  Rambler,  Number  177,  has  this  passage  : 
"  Every  one  of  these  virtuosos  looked  on  all  his  associates 
as  wretches  of  depraved  taste  and  narrow  notions.  Their 
conversation  was,  therefore,  fretful  and  waspish,  their  be- 
havior brutal,  their  merriment  bluntly  sarcastic,  and  their 
seriousness  gloomy  and  suspicious."  Now  these  theirs 
certainly  relate  to  every  one,  though  the  author  meant,  with- 
out doubt,  that  they  should  relate  to  the  whole  body  of  vir- 
tuosos,  including  the  everyone.  The  word  therefore  adds  to 
the  confusion.     The  virtuosos  were,  therefore,  fretful   and 


xvil]      AS  RELATING    TO  PRONOUNb.         125 

waspish.  What  for?  Was  it  because  every  one  saw  his 
associates  in  a  bad  light  ?  How  can  my  thinking  meanly 
of  others  make  their  conversation  fretful?  If  the  Doctor 
had  said,  "  These  virtuosos  looked  on  each  other  [one  an- 
other] .  .  .  ,"  the  meaning  would  have  been  clear. 

213.  The  Pronoun  either,  which  means  one  of  two,  is 
very  often  improperly  employed.  It  is  sometimes  used  to 
denote  one  of  three  or  more,  which  is  always  incorrect.  We 
say,  "  either  the  dog,  or  the  cat "  :  but  not,  "  either  the  dog, 
the  cat,  or  the  pig"  Suppose  some  one  to  ask  me  which  I 
choose  to  have,  mutton,  veal,  or  woodcock  ;  I  answer  any 
one  of  them  ;  and  not  either  of  them.  Doctor  Blair  has 
used  any  one  where  he  ought  to  have  used  either:  "The 
two  words  are  not  altogether  synonymous  •.  yet,  in  the  pres- 
ent case,  any  one  of  them  would  have  been  sufficient." 

[Either  and  neither  should  not — strictly — be  used  in  re- 
lation to  more  than  two  objects.  But,  though  both  either 
and  neither  are  strictly  applicable  to  two  only,  they  have 
been  for  a  very  long  time  used  in  relation  to  more  than 
two  by  many  good  writers  ;  and,  as  it  is  often  convenient 
so  to  use  them,  it  seems  probable  that  the  custom  will  pre- 
vail. When  more  than  two  things  are  referred  to,  any  and 
none  should  be  used  instead  of  either  and  neither  :  as,  "  any 
of  the  three,"  not,  "either  of  the  three";  "none  of  the 
four,"  not,  "  neither  of  the  four." — The  Verbalist. \ 

214.  In  concluding  this  Letter  on  the  Syntax  of  Pro- 
nouns, I  must  observe  that  I  leave  many  of  these  indeter- 
minate Pronouns  unnoticed  in  a  particular  manner.  To 
notice  every  one  individually  could  answer  no  purpose  ex- 
cept that  of  swelling  the  size  of  a  book  ;  a  thing  which 
[that]  I  most  anxiously  wish  to  avoid. 


126  SYNTAX,  [lette! 

LETTER   XVIII 

SYNTAX,    AS   RELATING   TO   ADJECTIVES. 

215.  By  this  time,  my  dear  James,  you  will  hardly 
want  [need?]  to  be  reminded  ot  the  nature  of  Adjectives. 
However,  it  may  not  be  amiss  for  you  to  read  again  atten- 
tively the  whole  of  Letter  VI  I. 

216.  Adjectives,  having  no  relative  effect,  containing 
no  representative  quality,  have  not  the  dangerous  power, 
possessed  by  pronouns,  of  throwing  whole  sentences  into 
confusion,  and  of  perverting  or  totally  destroying  the  writ- 
er's meaning.  For  this  reason,  there  is  little  to  be  said 
respecting  the  using  of  Adjectives. 

217.  When  you  make  use  of  an  Adjective  in  the  way 
of  comparison,  take  care  that  there  be  a  congruity,  or  fit- 
ness, in  the  things  or  qualities  compared.  Do  not  say  that 
a  thing  is  deeper  than  it  is  broad  or  long ;  or  that  a  man  is 
taller  than  he  is  wise  or  rich.  Hume  says,  "  The  principles 
of  the  Reformation  were  deeper  in  the  Prince's  mind  than 
to  be  easily  eradicated."  This  is  no  comparison  at  all.  It 
is  nonsense. 

218.  When  Adjectives  are  used  as  nouns,  they  must,  in 
all  respects,  be  treated  as  nouns.  "  The  guilty,  the  inno- 
cent, the  rich,  the  poor,  are  mixed  together."  But  we  can 
not  say  "  a  guilty,"  meaning  to  use  the  word  guilty  as  a 
noun. 

219.  If  two  or  more  Adjectives  be  used  as  applicable  to 
the  same  noun,  there  must  be  a  comma,  or  commas,  to  sep- 
arate them  :  as,  "  a  poor,  unfortunate  man  "  ;  unless  and  or 
or  be  made  use  of,  for  then  a  comma  or  commas  may  be 
omitted  :  as,  "  a  lofty  and  large  and  excellent  house." 

220.  Be  rather  sparing  than  liberal  in  the  use  of  Adjec« 


xviii.]    AS  RELATING    TO  ADJECTIVES.     127 

tives.  One  which  [that]  expresses  your  meaning  is  better 
than  two,  which  can,  at  best,  do  no  more  than  express  it, 
while  the  additional  one  may  possibly  do  harm.  But  the 
error  most  common  in  the  use  of  Adjectives  is  the  endeav- 
oring [endeavor]  to  strengthen  the  Adjective  by  putting  an 
adverb  before  it,  and  [omit]  which  adverb  conveys  the  no- 
tion that  the  quality  or  property  expressed  by  the  Adjec- 
tive admits  of  degrees  :  as,  "  very  honest,  extremely  just." 
A  [one]  man  may  be  wiser  than  another  wise  man  ;  an 
[one]  act  may  be  more  wicked  than  another  wicked  act ;  but 
a  [one]  man  can  not  be  more  honest  than  another ;  every 
man  who  [that]  is  not  honest  must  be  dishonest ;  and  every 
act  which  [that]  is  not  just  must  be  unjust.  "  Very  right," 
and  "  very  wrong,"  are  very  common  expressions,  but  they 
are  both  incorrect.  Some  expressions  may  be  more  com- 
mon than  others  :  but  that  which  [that,  i.  e.,  that  thing 
that]  is  not  right  is  wrong ;  or  that  which  [that]  is  not 
wrong  is  right.  There  are  here  no  intermediate  degrees. 
We  should  laugh  to  hear  a  man  say,  "  You  are  a  little 
right,  I  am  a  good  deal  wrong ;  that  person  is  honest  in 
a  trijling  degree ;  that  act  was  too  just."  But  our  ears  are 
accustomed  to  the  adverbs  of  exaggeration.  Some  writers 
deal  in  these  to  a  degree  that  tires  the  ear  and  offends  the 
understanding.  With  them,  everything  is  excessively  or  im- 
mensely or  extremely  or  vastly  or  surprisingly  or  wonderfully 
or  abundantly,  or  the  like.  The  notion  of  such  writers  is 
that  these  words  give  strength  to  what  they  are  saying. 
This  is  a  great  error.  Strength  must  be  found  in  the 
thought,  or  it  will  never  be  found  in  the  words.  Big-sound- 
ing words,  without  thoughts  corresponding,  are  effort  with- 
out effect. 

221.  Care  must  be  taken,  too,  not  to  use  such  adjectives 
as  are  improper  to  be  applied  to  the  nouns  along  with  which 


128  SYNTAX,  [letter 

they  are  used.  "  Good  virtues  ;  bad  vices  ;  painful  tooth, 
aches  ;  pleasing  pleasures."  These  are  staringly  absurd; 
but,  among  a  select  society  of  empty  heads,  "  moderate  Re- 
form "  has  long  been  a  fashionable  expression  ;  an  expres- 
sion which  [that]  has  been  well  criticised  by  asking  the 
gentlemen  who  [that]  use  it  how  they  would  like  to  obtain 
moderate  justice  in  a  court  of  law,  or  to  meet  with  moderate 
chastity  in  a  wife. 

222.  To  secure  yourself  against  the  risk  of  committing 
such  errors,  you  have  only  to  take  care  to  ascertain  the  full 
meaning  of  every  word  you  employ. 


LETTER   XIX. 

SYNTAX,  AS  RELATING  TO  VERBS. 

223.  Let  us,  my  dear  James,  get  well  through  this  Let- 
ter ;  and  then  we  may,  I  think,  safely  say  that  we  know 
something  of  Grammar  :  a  little  more,  I  hope,  than  is  known 
by  the  greater  part  of  those  who  [that,  i.  e.,  those  persons 
that]  call  themselves  Latin  and  Greek  scholars,  and  who 
[that]  dignify  their  having  studied  these  languages  with 
the  name  of  "  Liberal  Education'1 

224.  There  can  be  no  sentence,  there  can  be  no  sense 
in  words,  unless  there  be  a  Verb  either  expressed  or  under* 
stood.  Each  of  the  other  Parts  of  Speech  may  alternately 
be  dispensed  with  :  but  the  Verb  never  can.  The  Verb 
being,  then,  of  so  much  importance,  you  will  do  well  to 
read  again,  before  you  proceed  further,  paragraphs  23,  24, 
35,  and  26,  in  Letter  III,  and  the  whole  of  Letter  VIII. 

225.  Well,  then,  we  have  now  to  see  how  Verbs  are 
used  in  sentences,  and  how  a  misuse  of  them  affects  the 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  120 

meaning  of  the  writer.  There  must,  you  will  bear  in  mind, 
always  be  a  Verb  expressed  or  understood.  One  would 
think  that  this  was  [is]  not  the  case  in  the  direction  written 
on  a  post  letter:  "To  John  Goldsmith,  Esq.,  Hambledon, 
Hampshire."  But  what  do  these  words  really  mean  ?  Why, 
they  mean,  "  This  letter  is  to  be  delivered  to  John  Gold- 
smith, who  is  an  Esquire,  who  lives  at  Hambledon,  which 
is  in  Hampshire."  Thus,  there  are  no  less  than  five  Verbs 
where  we  thought  there  was  no  Verb  at  all.  "  Sir,  I  beg 
you  to  give  me  a  bit  of  bread."  The  sentence  which  [that] 
follows  the  Sir  is  complete  ;  but  the  Sir  appears  to  stand 
wholly  without  connection.  However,  the  full  meaning  is 
Vhis  :  "  I  beg  you,  who  are  a  Sir,  to  give  me  a  bit  of  bread." 
"  What,  John  ?  "  That  is  to  say,  "  What  is  said  by  you, 
whose  name  is  John?"  Again,  in  the  date  of  a  letter: 
"Long  Island,  March  25,  18 18."  That  is:  "/  am  now 
writing  in  Long  Island  ;  this  is  the  twenty-fifth  day  of 
March,  and  this  month  is  in  the  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  eighteenth  year  of  the  Christian  Era." 

226.  Now,  if  you  take  time  to  reflect  a  little  on  this 
matter,  you  will  never  be  puzzled  for  a  moment  by  those 
detached  words,  to  suit  which  grammarians  have  invented 
vocative  cases  and  cases  absolute,  and  a  great  many  other 
appellations,  with  which  they  puzzle  themselves,  and  con- 
fuse and  bewilder  and  torment  those  who  [that]  read  their 
books. 

227.  We  almost  always,  whether  in  speaking  or  in  writ- 
ing, leave  out  some  of  the  words  which  [that]  are  necessary 
to  a  full  expression  of  our  meaning.  This  leaving  out  is 
called  the  Ellipsis.  Ellipsis  is,  in  geometry,  an  oval  figure  • 
and  the  compasses,  in  the  tracing  of  the  line  of  this  figi*~» 
do  not  take  their  full  sweep  all  round,  as  in  the  tracing  01 
a  circle,  but  they  make  skips  and  leave  out  parts  of  the  area, 

9 


130  S  YN  TA  X,  [letter 

Dr  surface,  which  parts  would  be  included  in  the  circle, 
Hence  it  is,  that  the  skipping  over,  or  leaving  out,  in  speak- 
ing  or  in  writing,  is  called  the  Ellipsis ;  without  making 
use  of  which,  we,  as  you  will  presently  see,  scarcely  ever  open 
our  lips  or  move  our  pens.  "He  told  me  that  he  had  given 
John  the  gun  which  [that]  the  gunsmith  brought  the  other 
night."  That  is:  "He  told  to  me  that  he  had  given  to 
John  the  gun,  which  [that]  the  gunsmith  brought  to  this 
place,  or  hither,  on  the  other  night."  This  would,  you  see, 
be  very  cumbrous  and  disagreeable  ;  and,  therefore,  seeing 
that  the  meaning  is  quite  clear  without  the  words  marked 
by  italics,  we  leave  these  words  out.  But  we  may  easily  go 
too  far  in  this  elliptical  way,  and  say,  "  He  told  me  he  had 
given  John  the  gun  the  gunsmith  brought  the  other  night." 
This  is  leaving  the  sentence  too  bare,  and  making  U  to  be, 
if  not  nonsense,  hardly  sense. 

228.  Reserving  some  further  remarks,  to  be  made  by 
and-by,  on  the  ellipsis,  I  have  now  to  desire  that,  alrvays, 
when  you  are  examining  a  sentence,  you  will  take  into, 
your  view  the  words  that  are  left  out.  If  you  have  rnj 
doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  sentence,  fill  it  up  by  ps*. 
ting  in  the  left-out  words,  and  if  there  be  an  error  you  wvV 
soon  discover  it. 

229.  Keeping  in  mind  these  remarks  on  the  subject  oi 
understood  words,  you  will  now  listen  attentively  to  me, 
while  I  endeavor  to  explain  fo  you  the  manner  in  which 

Verbs  ought  to  be  used  in  sentenceSc 

230.  The  first  thing  is  to  come  at  a  clear  understand- 
ing with  regard  to  the  cases  of  nouns  and  pronouns  as  con- 
nected, in  use,  with  Verbs  and  prepositions ;  for,  on  this 
connection  a  great  deal  depends.  Verbs  govern,  as  it  is 
called,  nouns  and  pronouns  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  sometimes 
cause,  or  make,  nouns  or  pronouns  to  be  in  a  certain  case 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  131 

Nouns  do  not  vary  their  endings  to  denote  different  cases  , 
but  pronouns  do  ;  as  you  have  seen  in  Letter  VI.  There, 
fore,  to  illustrate  this  matter,  I  will  take  the  pronoun  per- 
sonal of  the  third  person  singular,  which  in  the  nominative 
case  is  he,  possessive  case  his,  objective  case  him. 

[But  nouns  also  vary  their  forms  in  the  possessive  case ; 
as,  man,  man's,  men,  men's,  etc.] 

231.  When  a  man  (it  is  the  same  with  regard  to  any 
other  person  or  thing)  is  the  actor,  or  doer,  the  man  is  in 
the  nominative  case,  and  the  corresponding  pronoun  is  he. 
"  He  strikes."  The  same  case  exists  when  the  man  is  the 
receiver  or  endurer  of  an  action.  "  He  is  stricken."  It  is 
still  the  same  case  when  the  man  is  said  to  be  in  any  state 
or  condition.  "He  is  unhappy."  Indeed,  there  is  no  dif- 
ference in  these  two  latter  instances  ;  for,  "he  is  stricken," 
is  no  other  than  to  say  that  "  he  is  in  a  state  01  condition, 
called  stricken  "  [struck].  Observe,  too,  that  in  these  two 
latter  instances,  the  he  is  followed  by  the  Verb  to  be  ;  he 
is  stricken,  he  is  unhappy  ;  and  observe,  moreover,  that 
whenever  the" Verb  to  be  is  used,  the  receiver,  or  be-er  (if  I  may 
make  a  word)  is,  and  must  be,  in  the  nominative  case,  But 
now  let  me  stop  a  little  to  guard  you  against  a  puzzle,  I 
say,  "  the  Verb  to  be  "  ;  but  I  do  not  mean  those  two  words 
always.  When  I  say  the  Verb  to  be,  I  may  mean,  as  in  the 
above  examples,  is.  This  is  the  Verb  to  be  in  the  third 
person  singular.  "  I  write?  I  should  say  that  here  is  the 
pronoun  /and  the  Verb  to  write ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  the 
Verb  to  write  in  one  of  its  forms.  The  to  is  the  sign  of  the 
infinitive  mode  ;  and  the  Verb  in  that  state  is  the  root,  or 
the  foundation,  from  which  all  the  different  parts  or  forms 
proceed.  Having  guarded  ourselves  against  thi6  puzzler, 
let  us  come  back  to  our  nominative  case.  The  actor,  the 
doer,  the  receiver  of  an  action,  the  be-er,  must  always  be  in 


!32  SYNTAX,  [letter 

the  nominative  case  ;  and  it  is  called  nominative  case  be- 
cause it  is  that  state,  or  situation,  or  case,  in  which  the  per- 
son  or  thing  is  named  without  being  pointed  out  as  the  ob- 
ject, or  end,  of  any  foregoing  action  or  purpose  :  as,  "  hi 
strikes  ;  he  is  stricken  [struck] ;  he  is  happy."  This  word 
nominative  is  not  a  good  word  ;  acting  and  being  case, 
would  be  much  better.  This  word  nominative,  like  most 
of  the  terms  used  in  teaching  grammar,  has  been  [was] 
taken  from  the  Latin.  It  is  bad  ;  it  is  inadequate  to  its  in- 
tended purpose  ;  but  it  is  used ;  and  if  we  understand  its 
meaning,  or,  rather,  what  it  is  designed  to  mean,  its  intrin- 
sic insufficiency  is  of  no  consequence.  Thus,  I  hope,  then, 
that  we  know  what  the  nominative  is :  "He  writes;  he 
sings  ;  he  is  sick  ;  he  is  well ;  he  is  smitten  ;  he  is  good  "  ; 
and  so  on,  always  with  a  he. 

232.  But  (and  now  pay  attention)  if  the  action  pass 
from  the  actor  to  a  person  or  thing  acted  upon,  and  if  there 
be  no  part  of  the  Verb  to  be  employed,  then  the  person  or 
thing  acted  upon  is  in  the  objective  case  ;  as,  "  He  smites 
him;  he  strikes  him;  he  kills  him."  In  these  instances 
we  wish  to  show,  not  only  an  action  that  is  performed  and 
the  person  who  [that]  performs  it,  but  also  the  person  upon 
whom  it  is  performed.  Here,  therefore,  we  state  the  actor, 
\.he  action,  and  the  object;  and  the  person  or  thing  which 
[that]  is  the  object,  is  in  the  objective  case.  The  Verb  is 
said,  in  such  instances,  to  govern  the  noun  or  pronoun ; 
that  is  to  say,  to  make  it,  or  force  it,  to  be  in  the  objective 
case  ;  and  to  make  us  use  him  instead  of  he. 

233.  However,  I  remember  that  I  was  very  much  puz- 
zled on  account  of  these  cases.  I  saw  that  when  "  Peter 
was  smitten"  Peter  was  in  the  nominative  case  ;  but  that, 
when  any  person  or  thing  "had  smitten  Peter,"  Peter  was 
in  the  objective  case.    This  puzzled  me  much  ;  and  the  loose 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  133 

and  imperfect  definitions  of  my  grammar-book  yielded  me 
no  clew  to  a  disentanglement.  Reflection  on  the  reason  for 
this  apparent  inconsistency  soon  taught  me,  however,  that, 
in  the  first  of  these  cases,  Peter  is  merely  named,  or  nomi- 
nated as  the  receiver  of  an  action  ;  and  that,  in  the  latter 
instance,  Peter  is  mentioned  as  the  object  of  the  action  of 
some  other  person  or  thing,  expressed  or  understood.  I  per- 
ceived that,  in  the  first  instance,  "Peter  is  smitten"  I  had  a 
complete  sense.  I  was  informed  as  to  the  person  who  [that] 
had  received  an  action,  and  also  as  to  what  sort  of  action 
he  had  received.  And  I  perceived  that,  in  the  second  in- 
stance, "John  has  smitten  Peter"  there  was  an  actor  who 
took  possession  of  the  use  of  the  Verb,  and  made  Peter 
the  object  of  it ;  and  that  this  actor,  John,  now  took  the 
nominative,  and  put  Peter  in  the  objective  case. 

234.  This  puzzle  was,  however,  hardly  got  over  when 
another  presented  itself;  for  I  conceived  the  notion  that 
Peter  was  in  the  nominative  only  because  no  actor  was  men- 
tioned at  all  in  the  sentence  :  but  I  soon  discovered  this  to 
be  an  error :  for  I  found  that  "  Peter  is  smitten  by  John" 
still  left  Peter  in  the  nominative  ;  and  that,  if  I  use  the 
pronoun,  I  must  say,  "  he  is  smitten  by  John "  ;  and  not 
"  him  is  smitten  by  John." 

235.  Upon  this  puzzle  I  dwelt  a  long  time :  a  whole 
week,  at  least.  For  I  was  not  content  unless  I  could  rec- 
oncile every  thing  to  reason  ;  and  I  could  see  no  reason  for 
this.  Peter,  in  this  last  instance,  appeared  to  be  the  object? 
and  there  was  the  actor,  John.  My  ear,  indeed,  assured  me 
that  it  was  right  to  say,  "  He  is  smitten  by  John  "  ;  but  my 
reason  doubted  the  information  and  assurances  of  my  ear. 

236.  At  last,  the  little  insignificant  word  by  attracted 
my  attention.  This  word,  in  this  place,  is  a  preposition. 
Ah  f  that  is  it !  prepositions  govern  nouns  and  prorrouns .' 


134  SYNTAX,  [letter 

that  is  to  say,  make  them  to  be  in  the  objective  case  !  So  that 
John,  who  had  plagued  me  so  much,  I  found  to  be  in  the 
objective  case  ;  and  I  found  that,  if  I  put  him  out,  and  put 
the  pronoun  in  his  place,  I  must  say,  "  Peter  is  smitten  by 
him" 

237.  Now,  then,  my  dear  James,  do  you  clearly  under- 
stand  this  ?  If  you  do  not,  have  patience.  Read  and  think, 
and  weigh  well  every  part  of  what  I  have  here  written  :  for, 
as  you  will  immediately  see,  a  clear  understanding  with  re-  . 
gard  to  the  cases  is  one  of  the  main  inlets  to  a  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  grammar. 

238=  Verbs,  of  which  there  must  be  one  at  least,  ex- 
pressed or  understood,  in  every  sentence,  must  agree  in  per- 
son and  in  number -with  the  nouns  or  pronouns  which  [that] 
are  the  nominatives  of  the  sentence  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Verbs 
must  be  of  the  same  person  and  same  number  as  the  nomi- 
natives are.  Verbs  frequently  change  their  forms  and  end- 
ings to  make  themselves  agree  with  the  nominatives.  How 
necessary  is  it,  then,  to  know  what  is,  and  what  is  not,  a 
nominative  in  a  sentence  !  Let  us  take  an  example,  "  John 
smite  Peter."  What  are  these  words?  John  is  a  noun, 
third  person,  singular  number,  nominative  case.  Smite  is  a 
verb,  first  person,  singular  number.  Peter  is  a  noun,  third 
person,  singular  number,  objective  case.  Therefore,  the 
sentence  is  incorrect ;  for  the  nominative,  John,  is  in  the 
third  person,  and  the  Verb  is  in  the  first :  while  both  ought 
to  be  in  the  same  person.  The  sentence  ought  to  be,  "  John 
smites  Peter  "  ;  and  not  "  John  smite  Peter." 

[Here  are  more  ought-tds  where  shonlds  should  be 
used.] 

239.  This  is,  to  be  sure,  a  very  glaring  error :  but  still 
it  is  no  more  than  an  error,  and  is,  in  fact,  as  excusable  as 
any  other  grammatical  error.     "  The  men  lives  in  the  coun« 


Xix. j  AS  DELATING    TO    VERBS.  135 

try."  Here  the  Verb  lives  is  in  the  singular  number,  and 
the  noun  men,  which  is  the  nominative,  is  in  the  plural 
number.  "The  men  live  in  the  country,"  it  ought  to  be. 
These  errors  stare  us  in  the  face.  But  when  the  sentences 
become  longer,  and  embrace  several  nominatives  and  Verbs, 
we  do  not  so  readily  perceive  *he  errors  that  are  committed. 
'•  The  intention  of  the  Act  ot  Parliament,  and  not  its  sev- 
eral penalties,  decide  the  character  of  the  corrupt  assembly 
by  whom  it  was  passed."  Here  the  noun  penalties  comes 
so  near  to  the  Verb  decide  that  the  ear  deceives  the  judg- 
ment. But  the  noun  intention  is  the  nominative  to  the 
Verb,  which  therefore  ought  to  be  decides.  Let  us  take  a 
sentence  still  more  deceiving  :  "  Without  the  aid  of  a  fraud- 
ulent paper-money,  the  tyrants  could  never  have  performed 
any  of  those  deeds,  by  which  their  safety  have  been  endan- 
gered, and  which  [that]  have,  at  the  same  time,  made  them 
detested."  Deeds  is  the  nominative  to  the  last  have  and  its 
principal  Verb  ;  but  safety  is  the  nominative  to  the  first 
have  ;  and  therefore  this  first  have  ought  to  have  been  has. 
You  see  that  the  error  arises  from  our  having  the  plural 
noun  deeds  in  our  eye  and  ear.  Take  all  the  rest  of  the 
sentence  away,  and  leave  "  safety  have  been  "  standing  by 
itself,  and  then  the  error  is  as  flagrant  as  "  John  smite  Pe- 
ter." Watch  me  now,  in  the  next  sentence :  "  It  must  be 
observed  that  land  fell  greatly  in  price  as  soon  as  the  cheats 
began  to  draw  in  their  paper-money.  In  such  cases  the 
quantity  and  quality  of  the  land  is  the  same  as  it  was  be- 
fore ;  but  the  price  is  reduced  all  of  a  sudden,  by  a  change 
in  the  value  and  power  of  the  money,  which  becomes  very 
different  from  what  it  was."  Here  are  two  complete  sen- 
tences, which  [that]  go  very  glibly  off  the  tongue.  There 
is  nothing  in  them  that  offends  the  ear.  The  first  is,  in- 
deed, correct  ;  but  the  last  is  a  mass  of  error-      Quantity 


I 


136  SYNTAX,  [LETTER 

and  quality,  which  are  the  nominatives  in  the  fhst  mem- 
ber of  the  sentence,  make,  together,  a  plural,  and  should 
have  been  followed,  after  the  word  land,  by  are  and  not 
by  is  j  and  the  it  Teas,  which  followed,  should,  of  course, 
have  been  they  were.  In  the  second  member  of  the  sen- 
tence, value  and  power  are  the  nominatives  of  becomes, 
which,  therefore,  should  have  been  become  ;  and  then,  again, 
there  follows  an  it  was  instead  of  they  were.  We  are  mis- 
led, in  such  cases,  by  the  nearness  of  the  singular  noun, 
which  comes  in  between  the  nominatives  and  the  Verbs. 
We  should  not  be  likely  to  say,  "  Quantity  and  quality 
is  j  value  and  power  becomes.1'  But  when  a  singular  noun 
comes  in  between  such  nominatives  and  the  Verbs,  we 
are  very  apt  to  be  thinking  of  that  noun,  and  to  commit 
error.  When  we  once  begin,  we  keep  on  :  and,  if  the  sen- 
tence be  long,  we  get  together,  at  last,  a  fine  collection  of 
Verbs  and  pronouns,  making  as  complete  nonsense  as  heart 
can  wish.  Judge  Blackstoxe,  in  the  4th  Book,  Chapter 
33,  says  :  "  The  very  scheme  and  model  of  the  administration 
of  common  justice,  between  party  and  party,  was  entirely 
settled  by  this  king;  and  has  continued  nearly  the  same  to 
this  day."  Administration  of  common  justice  was  full  upon 
the  judge's  ear  ;  down  he  clapped  was  ;  and  has  naturally 
followed  :  and  thus,  my  dear  son,  in  grammar  as  in  moral 
conduct,  one  fault  almost  necessarily  produces  others. 

240.  Look,  therefore,  at  your  nominative,  before  you 
put  a  Verb  upon  paper  ;  for,  you  see,  it  may  be  one  word, 
or  two  or  more  words.  But  observe,  if  there  be  two  or 
nore  singular  nouns  or  pronouns,  separated  by  or,  which, 
you  know,  is  a  disjoining  conjunction ;  then,  the  Verb 
must  be  in  the  singular  ;  as,  "  A  soldier  or  a  sailor  who 
[that]  has  served  his  country  faithfully,  is  fairly  entitled  to 
a  pension  ;  but  who  will  say  that  a  prostituted  peer,  a 


- 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  137 

pimp,  or  a  buffoon,  merits  a  similar   provision  from   the 
public  ? " 

241.  It  sometimes  happens  that  there  are,  in  the  nomi- 
native, two  or  more  nouns,  or  pronouns,  and  that  they  are 
in  different  numbers,  or  in  different  persons  :  as,  "  The  min- 
ister or  the  borough-tyrants ."  These  nouns  can  not  have 
the  Verb  to  agree  with  them  both.  Therefore,  if  it  be  the 
conspiring  of  these  wretches  against  the  liberties  of  the  peo- 
ple, of  which  we  have  to  speak,  we  can  not  say,  "  The  min- 
ister or  the  borough-tyrants  conspire  "  ;  because  the  Verb 
would  not  then  agree  in  number  with  the  noun  minister  : 
nor  can  we  say  conspires  ;  because  the  Verb  would  not  agree 
with  the  noun  borough-tyrants.  Therefore,  we  must  not 
write  such  sentences  ;  we  must  say,  "  The  minister  con- 
spires, or  the  borough-tyrants  conspire,  against  the  liberties 
of  the  people."  Repetition  is  sometimes  disagreeable  to 
the  ear  ;  but  it  is  better  to  repeat,  be  it  ever  so  often,  than  to 
write  bad  grammar,  which  is  only  another  term  for  nonsense. 

242.  When  nominatives  are  separated  by  nor,  the  rule 
of  or  must  be  followed.  "  Neither  man  nor  beast  is  safe  in 
such  weather"  ;  and  not  are  safe.  And  if  nominates  of 
different  numbers  present  themselves,  we  must  no«.  give 
them  a  Verb  which  [that]  disagrees  with  either  the  one  or 
the  other.  We  must  not  say,  "  Neither  the  halter  nor  the 
bayonets  are  sufficient  to  prevent  us  from  obtaining  our 
rights."  We  must  avoid  this  bad  grammar  by  using  a  dif- 
ferent form  of  words :  as,  "  We  are  to  be  prevented  from 
obtaining  our  rights  by  neither  the  halter  nor  the  bayonets." 
And  why  should  we  wish  to  write  bad  grammar,  if  we  can 
express  our  meaning  in  good  grammar  ? 

243.  If  or  or  nor  disjoin  nouns  and  pronouns  of  differ- 
ent persons,  these  nouns  and  pronouns,  though  they  be  all 
of  the  same  number,  can  not  be  the  nominative  of  one  and 


138  SYNTAX,  [letter 

the  same  Verb.  We  can  not  say,  "  They  or  I  am  in  fault ; 
I,  or  they,  or  he,  is  the  author  of  it ;  George  or  I  am  the 
person."  Mr.  Lindley  Murray  says  that  we  may  use  these 
phrases  ;  and  that  we  have  only  to  take  care  that  the  Verb 
agrees  with  that  person  which  [that]  is  placed  nearest  to  it : 
but  he  says,  also,  that  it  would  be  better  to  avoid  such 
phrases  by  giving  a  different  turn  to  our  words.  I  do  not 
like  to  leave  anything  to  chance  or  to  discretion  when  we 
have  a  clear  principle  for  our  guide.  Fill  up  the  sentences, 
and  you  will  see  what  pretty  work  here  is.  "  They  am  in 
fault,  or  I  am  in  fault ;  I  is  the  author,  or  they  is  the  author, 
or  he  is  the  author  ;  George  am  the  person,  or  I  am  the 
person."  Mr.  Murray  gives  a  similar  latitude  as  to  the 
Verbs  used  with  a  mixture  of  plurals  and  singulars,  as  men- 
tioned in  the  foregoing  paragraph.  The  truth,  I  suspect, 
is,  that  Mr.  Murray,  observing  that  great  writers  frequently 
committed  these  errors,  thought  it  prudent  to  give  up  the 
cause  of  grammar,  rather  than  seem  to  set  himself  against 
such  formidable  authority.  But  if  we  follow  this  course,  it 
is  pretty  clear  that  we  shall  very  soon  be  left  with  no  prin- 
ciple and  no  rule  of  grammar. 

244.  The  nominative  is  frequently  a  noun  of  multitude  : 
as,  mod,  parliament,  gang.  Now  where  this  is  the  case,  the 
Verb  is  used  in  the  singular  or  in  the  plural,  upon  precisely 
the  same  principles  that  the  pronouns  are  so  used  ;  and  as 
these  principles,  together  with  ample  illustrations  by  the 
way  of  example,  have  been  given  you  in  Letter  XVII,  para- 
graph 181,  I  need  say  nothing  more  of  the  matter.  I  will 
just  observe,  however,  that  consistency,  in  the  use  of  the 
Verb,  in  such  cases,  is  the  main  thing  to  keep  in  view. 
We  may  say,  "  The  gang  of  borough-tyrants  is  cruel "  ;  or, 
that  "  the  gang  of  borough-tyrants  are  cruel  "  ;  but  if  we  go 
on  to  speak  of  their  notoriously  brutal  ignorance,  we  must 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  139 

not  say,  "  The  gang  of  borough-tyrants  is  cruel  and  are  also 
notoriously  as  ignorant  as  brutes."  We  must  use  is  in  both 
places,  or  are  in  both  places. 

245.  In  looking  for  the  nominative  of  a  sentence,  take 
care  that  the  relative  pronoun  be  not  a  stumbling-block, 
for  relatives  have  no  changes  to  denote  number  or  person  ; 
and,  though  they  may  sometimes  appear  to  be  of  themselves 
nominatives,  they  never  can  be  such.  "The  men  who 
[that]  are  here,  the  man  who  [that]  is  here  ;  the  cocks  that 
crow,  the  cock  that  crows."  Now,  if  the  relative  be  the 
nominative,  why  do  the  Verbs  change,  seeing  that  here  is 
no  change  in  the  relative  ?  No  :  the  Verb,  in  pursuit  of  its 
nominative,  runs  through  the  relatives  to  come  at  their 
antecedents,  men,  man,  cocks,  cock.  Bishop  Lowth  says, 
however,  that  "  the  relative  is  the  nominative  when  no 
other  nominative  comes  between  it  and  the  Verb";  and 
Mr.  Murray  has  very  faithfully  copied  this  erroneous  ob- 
servation. "  Who  is  in  the  house  ?  Who  are  in  the  house  ? 
Who  strikes  the  iron  ?  Who  strike  the  iron  ?  Who  was  in 
the  street  ?  Who  were  in  the  street  ?  "  Now,  here  is,  in 
all  these  instances,  no  other  nominative  between  the  rela- 
tive and  the  Verb  ;  and  yet  the  Verb  is  continually  varying. 
Why  does  it  vary  ?  Because  it  disregards  the  relative  and 
goes  and  finds  the  antecedent,  and  accommodates  its  num- 
ber to  that  antecedent.  The  antecedents  are,  in  these  in- 
stances, understood:  "What  person  is  in  the  house? 
What  persons  are  in  the  house  ?  What  person  strikes  the 
iron  ?  What  persons  strike  the  iron  ?  What  person  was  in 
the  street  ?  What  persons  were  in  the  street  ? "  The 
Bishop  seems  to  have  had  a  misgiving  in  his  mind,  when 
he  gave  this  account  of  the  nominative  functions  of  the 
relative  ;  for  he  adds,  "  The  relative  is  of  the  same  person  as 
the  antecedent :  and  the  Verb  agrees  with  it  accordingly." 


140  SYNTAX,  [letter 

Oh !  oh  !  but  the  relative  is  always  the  same,  and  is  of  any 
and  of  every  number  and  person.  How  then  can  the  Verb, 
when  it  makes  its  changes  in  number  and  person,  be  said  to 
agree  with  the  relative  ?  Disagree,  indeed,  with  the  relative 
the  Verb  can  not  any  more  than  it  can  with  a  preposition  ; 
for  the  relative  has,  like  the  preposition,  no  changes  to  de- 
note cases  ;  but  the  danger  is  that  in  certain  instances  the 
relative  may  be  taken  for  a  nominative,  without  your  look- 
ing after  the  antecedent,  which  is  the  real  nominative,  and 
that  thus,  not  having  the  number  and  person  of  the  ante- 
cedent clearly  in  your  mind,  you  may  give  to  the  Verb  a 
wrong  number  or  person.  It  is  very  seldom  that  those 
who  [that]  lay  down  erroneous  rules  furnish  us  with  exam- 
ples by  means  of  which  we  are  enabled  to  detect  the  error 
of  these  rules  ;  yet,  Mr.  Murray  has,  in  the  present  case, 
done  this  most  amply.  For  in  another  part  of  his  book  he 
has  these  two  examples:  "I  am  the  general  who  give  the 
orders  to-day.  I  am  the  general  who  [that]  gives  the  orders 
to-day."  Here  the  antecedents  as  well  as  the  relatives  are 
precisely  the  same  !  the  order  of  the  words  is  the  same  ; 
and  yet  the  Verbs  are  different.  Why?  Because  in  the 
first  example,  the  pronoun  /  is  the  nominative,  and  in  the 
second,  the  noun  general.  The  first  means,  "  I,  who  am 
the  general  here,  give  the  orders  to-day."  The  second 
means,  "  The  general  who  [that]  gives  the  orders  to-day  is 
I."  Nothing  can  more  clearly  show  that  the  relative  can 
not  be  the  nominative,  and  that  to  consider  it  as  a  nomi- 
native must  lead  to  error  and  confusion.  You  will  ob- 
serve, therefore,  that  when  I,  in  the  Etymology  and  Syntax 
as  relating  to  relative  pronouns,  speak  of  relatives  as  being 
in  the  nominative  case,  I  mean  that  they  relate  to  nouns  or 
to  personal  pronouns,  which  [that]  are  in  that  case.  The 
same  observation  applies  to  the  other  cases. 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  141 

[There  are  few,  if  any,  grammarians  nowadays  that 
take  Cobbett's  view  of  the  subject  treated  of  in  this  para- 
graph. "  Clever  as  Cobbett's  argument  is,  James,"  says  my 
learned  friend  Prof.  Davidson,  "  probably  was  not  misled 
by  it."] 

246.  We  are  sometimes  embarrassed  to  fix  precisely  on 
the  nominative,  when  a  sort  of  addition  is  made  to  it  by 
words  expressing  persons  or  things  that  accompany  it :  as, 
"  The  Tyrant,  with  the  Spy,  have  brought  Peter  to  the 
block."  We  hesitate  to  determine  whether  the  Tyrant 
alone  is  in  the  nominative,  or  whether  the  nominative  in- 
cludes the  Spy  ;  and  of  course  we  hesitate  which  to  employ, 
the  singular  or  the  plural  Verb  ;  that  is  to  say,  has  or  have. 
The  meaning  must  be  our  guide.  If  we  mean  that  the  act 
has  been  done  by  the  Tyrant  himself,  and  that  the  Spy  has 
been  a  mere  involuntary  agent,  then  we  ought  to  use  the 
singular  ;  but  if  we  believe  that  the  Spy  has  been  a  co- 
operator  ;  an  associate ;  an  accomplice ;  then  we  must  use 
the  plural  of  the  Verb.  "  The  Tyrant  with  his  Proclama- 
tion, has  produced  great  oppression  and  flagrant  violations 
of  law."  Has,  by  all  means,  in  this  case  ;  because  the 
proclamation  is  a  mere  instrument.  Give  the  sentence  a 
turn  :  "  The  Tyrant  has  produced  great  oppression  and 
flagrant  violations  of  the  law  with  his  proclamation."  This 
is  good  ;  but  "  the  Tyrant  has  brought  Peter  to  the  block 
with  the  Spy,"  is  bad  ;  it  sounds  badly  [bad]  ;  and  it  is  bad 
sense.  It  does  not  say  what  we  mean  it  should  say.  "A 
leg  of  mutton,  with  turnips  and  carrots,  is  very  good."  If 
we  mean  to  say  that  a  leg  of  mutton  when  cooked  with 
these  vegetables,  is  good,  we  must  use  is;  but  if  we  be 
speaking  of  the  goodness  of  a  leg  of  mutton,  and  these  vege- 
tables taken  altogether,  we  must  use  are.  When  with 
means  along  with,  together  with,  in  company  with,  and  the 


142  SYNTAX,  [LETTEfc 

like,  it  is  nearly  the  same  as  and  ;  and  then  the  plural 
Verb  must  be  used.  "He,  with  his  bare  hand,  takes  up 
hot  iron."  Not,  "  he,  with  his  bare  hand,  take  up."  "  He, 
with  his  brothers,  are  able  to  do  much."  Not,  "  is  able  to 
do  much."  If  the  pronoun  be  used  instead  of  brothers,  it 
will  be  in  the  objective  case  :  "  He,  with  them,  are  able  to 
do  much."  But  this  is  no  impediment  to  the  including  of 
the  noun  (represented  by  them)  in  the  nominative.  With, 
which  is  a  preposition,  takes  the  objective  case  after  it :  but 
if  the  persons  or  things  represented  by  the  words  coming 
after  the  preposition,  form  part  of  the  actors  in  a  sentence, 
the  understood  nouns  make  part  of  the  nominatives. 
"  The  bag,  with  the  guineas  and  dollars  in  it,  were  stolen," 
For  if  we  say  was  stolen,  it  is  possible  for  us  to  mean  that 
the  bag  only  was  stolen.  "  Sobriety,  with  great  industry  and 
talent,  enable  a  man  to  perform  great  deeds."  And  not  en- 
ables :  for,  sobriety  alone  would  not  enable  a  man  to  do 
great  things.  "  The  borough-tyranny,  with  the  paper- 
money  makers,  have  produced  misery  and  starvation." 
And  not  has  ;  for  we  mean  that  the  two  have  co-operated. 
"  Zeal,  with  discretion,  do  much  "  ;  and  not,  does  much  ; 
for  we  mean,  on  the  contrary,  that  it  does  nothing.  It  is 
the  meaning  that  must  determine  which  of  the  numbers  we 
ought,  in  all  such  cases,  to  employ. 

[All  wrong.  An  adjunct  does  not  change  the  number  oj 
the  nominative.  "  The  tyrant,  with  (i.  e.,  aided  by)  the  spy, 
has  brought  Peter  to  the  block."  "  Sobriety s  with  (i.  e,, 
coupled  with)  great  industry  and  talent,  enables  a  man  to 
perform  great  deeds."  "  Zeal,  with  (i.  e.,  directed  by)  dis- 
ci etion,  does  much."  If  the  second  substantive  is  consid- 
ered as  forming  part  of  the  subject,  it  should  be  connected 
by  and.~\ 

247o  The  Verb  to  be  sometimes  comes   between  two 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  143 

nouns  of  different  numbers.  "  The  great  evil  is  the  bor- 
ough-debt." In  this  sentence  there  is  nothing  to  embar- 
rass us  ;  because  evil  and  borough-debt  are  both  in  the  sin- 
gular. But,  "  the  great  evil  is  the  taxes,"  is  not  so  clear  of 
embarrassment.  The  embarrassment  is  the  same,  when 
there  is  a  singular  noun  on  one  side,  and  two  or  more  sin- 
gulars or  plurals  on  the  other  side  :  as,  "  The  curse  of  the 
country  is  the  profligacy,  the  rapacity,  the  corruption  of  the 
law-makers,  the  base  subserviency  of  the  administrators  of 
the  law,  and  the  frauds  of  the  makers  of  paper-money." 
Now,  we  mean  here,  that  these  things  constitute,  or  form, 
or  make  up,  a  curse.  We  mean  that  the  curse  consists  of 
these  things  ;  and  if  we  said  this,  there  would  be  no  puz- 
zling. "  The  evil  is  the  taxes."  That  is,  the  taxes  consti- 
tute the  evil ;  but  we  can  not  say,  "  the  evil  are  the  taxes  "  ; 
nor  can  we  say,  that  the  "  curse  are  these  things."  Avoid, 
then,  the  use  of  the  Verb  to  be  in  all  such  cases.  Say,  the 
curse  of  the  country  consists  of,  or  arises  from,  or  is  pro- 
duced by.  Dr.  Blair,  in  his  19th  Lecture,  says,  "A  feeble, 
a  harsh,  or  an  obscure  style,  are  always  faults?  The  07 
required  the  singular  Verb  is  ;  but  faults  required  are.  If 
he  had  put  is  and  faulty,  there  would  have  been  no  doubt 
of  his  being  correct.  But  as  the  sentence  now  stands,  there 
is  great  room  for  doubt,  and,  that,  too,  as  to  more  than  one 
point :  for  fault  means  defect,  and  a  style,  which  is  a  wholev 
can  not  well  be  called  a  defect,  which  means  a  want  of  good- 
ness in  a  part.  Feebleness,  harshness,  obscurity,  are  faults. 
But  to  call  the  style  itself,  to  call  the  whole  thing  a  faulty 
is  more  than  the  Doctor  meant.  The  style  may  be  faultyi 
and  yet  it  may  not  be  a  fault.  The  Doctor's  work  is  faulty  ; 
but  surely,  the  work  is  not  a  fault ! 

248.  Lest  you  should  be,  in  certain  instances,  puzzled  to 
find  your  nominative  case,  which,  as  you  now  see,  consti* 


144  SYNTAX*  [letter 

tutes  the  main-spring  and  regulator  of  every  sentence,  1 
will  here  point  out  to  you  some  instances  wherein  there  is 
used,  apparently,  neither  Verb  nor  nominative.  "  In  gen- 
eral I  dislike  to  drink  wine."  This  in  general  is  no  more, 
in  fact,  than  one  7vord.  It  means  generally.  But  some- 
times there  is  a  Verb  comes  in :  "  generally  speaking." 
Thus :  "  The  borough-tyrants,  generally  speaking,  are  great 
fools  as  well  as  rogues."  That  is  to  say,  "when  we  speak 
generally  "  ;  or,  "  if  we  are  speaking  generally  "  ;  or  "  when 
men  or  people  speak  generally."  For  observe  that  there 
never  can  be  a  sentence  without  a  Verb  expressed  or  under- 
stood, and  that  there  never  can  be  a  Verb  without  a  nomi- 
native case  expressed  or  understood. 

249.  Sometimes  not  only  two  or  more  nouns,  or  pro- 
nouns, may  be  the  nominative  of  a  sentence,  but  many  other 
words  along  with  them  may  assist  in  making  a  nominative : 
as,  "  Pitt,  Rose,  Steele,  and  their  associates,  giving  to  Wal- 
ter a  sum  of  the  public  money,  as  a  reward  for  libeling 
the  sons  of  the  king,  was  extremely  profligate  and  base." 
That  is  to  say.  this  act  of  Pitt  and  his  associates  was 
extremely  profligate  and  base.  It  is,  when  you  come  to 
inquire,  the  act  which  [that]  is  the  nominative,  and  all  the 
other  words  only  go  to  describe  the  origin  and  end  of  the 
act. 

250.  You  must  take  care  that  there  be  a  nominative,  and 
that  it  be  clearly  expressed  or  understood.  "  The  Attorney- 
General  Gibbs,  whose  malignity  induced  him  to  be  ex- 
tremely violent,  and  was  listened  to  by  the  Judges."  The 
first  Verb  induced  has  a  nominative,  namely,  the  malignity 
of  the  Attorney-General  Gibbs :  but  the  was  has  no  nomi- 
native, either  expressed  or  clearly  understood  ;  and,  we  can 
not,  therefore,  tell  what  or  who  it  was  that  was  listened  to  : 
Whether  the  malignity  of  Gibbs,  or  Gibbs  himself.    It  should 


fcix.]  AS  DELATING    TO    VERBS.  l\% 

have  been,  and  who,  or,  and  he,  was  listened  to  ;  and  then 
we  should  have  known  that  it  was  Gibbs  himself  that  was 
listened  to.  The  omitting  of  the  nominative,  five  hundred 
instances  of  which  I  could  draw  from  Judge  Blackstone 
and  Doctor  Johnson,  arises  very  often  from  a  desire  to 
avoid  a  repetition  of  the  noun  or  pronouns  ;  but  repetition 
is  always  to  be  preferred  before  [to]  obscurity. 

251.  Now,  my  dear  James,  I  hope  that  I  have  explained 
to  you,  sufficiently,  not  only  what  the  nominative  is,  but 
what  are  its  powers  in  every  sentence,  and  that  I  have  im- 
printed deeply  on  your  mind  the  necessity  of  keeping  th<> 
nominative  constantly  in  your  eye.  For  want  of  doing  this, 
Judge  Blackstone  has,  in  Book  IV,  Chap.  17,  committed 
some  most  ludicrous  errors,  "  Our  ancient  Saxon  laws 
nominally  punished  theft  with  death,  if  above  the  value  of 
twelve-pence  ;  but  the  criminal  was  permitted  to  redeem  his 
life  by  a  pecuniary  ransom  ;  as  among  their  German  ances- 
tors." What  confusion  is  here  !  Whose  ancestors  ?  Theirs. 
Who  are  they?  Why  the  criminal.  Theirs,  if  it  relate  to 
anything,  must  relate  to  laws ;  and  then  the  laws  have  an- 
cestors. Then,  what  is  it  that  was  to  be  of  above  the  value 
of  twelve-pence  ?  The  death,  or  the  theft  ?  By  "  if  above 
the  value  of  twelve-pence,"  the  Judge,  without  doubt,  meant, 
"  if  the  thing  stolen  were  above  the  value  of  twelve-pence  "  ; 
but  he  says  no  such  thing  ;  and  the  meaning  of  the  words 
is,  if  tlie  death  were  above  the  value  of  twelve-pence.  The 
sentence  should  have  stood  thus  :  "  Our  ancient  Saxon  laws 
nominally  punished  theft  with  death,  if  the  thing  stolen  were 
above  the  value  of  twelve-pence  ;  but  the  criminals  were 
permitted  to  redeem  their  lives  by  a  pecuniary  ransom  ;  as 
among  their  German  ancestors."  I  could  quote,  from  the 
same  author,  hundreds  of  examples  of  similar  errors ;  but 
were  there  only  this  one  to  be  found  in  a  work  which  [that] 


146  SYNTAX,  [letter 

is  composed  of  matter  which  [that]  was  read,  in  the  way 
of  Lectures,  by  a  professor  of  law  to  students  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford, even  this  one  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  convince 
you  of  the  importance  of  attending  to  the  precepts  which 
[that]  I  have  given  you  relative  to  this  part  of  our  subject. 

252.  As  to  the  objective  case,  it  has  nothing  to  do  with 
Verbs ;  because  a  noun  which  [that]  is  not  in  the  nomina- 
tive must  be  in  the  objective  ;  and  because  Verbs  do  never 
vary  their  endings  to  make  themselves  agree  with  the  ob- 
jective, This  case  has  been  sufficiently  explained  under 
the  head  of  personal  pronouns,  which  have  endings  to  de» 
note  ito 

253.  The  possessive  case,  likewise,  has  nothing  to  do 
with  Verbs,  only  you  must  take  care  that  you  do  not,  in  any 
instance,  look  upon  it  as  a  nominative.  "  The  quality  ot 
the  apples  were  good."  No:  it  must  be  was;  lor  quality 
is  the  nominative  ;  and  apples  the  possessive.  "  The  want 
of  learning,  talent,  and  sense,  are  more  visible  in  the  two 
houses  of  parliament  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  nation." 
Take  care  upon  all  such  occasions.  Such  sentences  are,  as 
to  grammatical  construction,  very  deceiving.  It  should  be 
"  is  more  visible  "  ;  for  want  is  the  nominative  ;  and  learn- 
ing, talent,  and  sense,  are  in  the  possessive.  The  want  of 
learning,  and  so  on. 

254.  You  now  know  all  about  the  person  and  number  of 
Verbs.  You  know  the  reasons  upon  which  are  founded  their 
variations  with  regard  to  these  two  circumstances.  Look, 
now,  at  the  conjugation  in  Letter  VIII,  paragraph  98  ;  and 
you  will  see  that  there  remain  the  Times  and  Modes  to  be 
considered. 

255.  Of  Times  there  is  very  little  to  be  said  here.  All 
the  fanciful  distinctions  of  perfect  present,  more  past,  and 
more  perfect  past,  and  numerous  others,  only  tend  to  be- 


/;ix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  147 

wilder,  confuse,  and  disgust  the  learner.  There  can  be  but 
three  times,  the  presejit,  the  past,  the  future  ;  and,  for  the 
expressing  of  these,  our  language  provides  us  with  words 
and  terminations  the  most  suitable  that  can  possibly  be  con- 
ceived. In  some  languages  which  [that]  contain  no  little 
words  such  as  our  signs,  -will,  shall,  may,  and  so  on,  the 
Verbs  themselves  change  their  form  in  order  to  express 
what  we  express  by  the  help  of  these  signs.  There  are  two 
past  times  in  French,  for  instance :  J  will  give  you  an  ex- 
ample in  order  to  explain  the  matter.  "  The  working-men, 
every  day,  gave  money  to  the  tyrants,  who,  in  return,  gave 
the  working-men  dungeons  and  axes."  Now  here  is  our 
word  gave,  which  is  the  past  time  of  the  Verb  to  give.  It 
is  the  same  word,  you  see,  in  both  instances :  but  you  will 
see  it  different  in  the  French  :  "  Tous  les  jours  les  ouvriers 
donnaient  de  l'argent  aux  tyrants,  qui,  en  retour,  donnerent 
aux  ouvriers  des  cachots  et  des  haches."  You  see  that,  in 
one  place,  our  give  is  translated  by  donnaient,  and  the  other 
place,  by  donnerent.  One  of  these  is  called,  in  French,  the 
past  imperfect,  and  the  other  the  past  perfect.  This  dis- 
tinction is  necessary  in  the  French  ;  but  similar  distinctions 
are  wholly  unnecessary  in  English, 

256.  In  the  Latin  language,  the  Verbs  change  their  end- 
ings so  as  to  include  in  the  Verbs  themselves  what  we  express 
by  our  auxiliary  Verb  to  have.  And  they  have  as  many 
changes;  or  different  endings,  as  are  required  to  express  all 
those  various  circumstances  of  time  which  [that]  we  express 
by  work,  worked,  shall  work,  may  work,  might  work,  have 
worked,  had  worked,  shall  have  worked,  may  have  worked, 
might  have  worked,  and  so  on.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary 
for  the  Latins  to  have  distinct  appellations  to  suit  these  va- 
rious circumstances  of  time,  or  states  of  an  action  ;  but  such 
distinction  of  appellations  can  be  of  no  use  to  us,  whose 


148  SYNTAX,  [letter 

Verbs  never  vary  their  endings  to  express  tinu  except  the 
single  variation  from  the  present  to  the  past ;  foi  even  as  to 
the  future,  the  signs  answer  our  purpose.  In  our  compound 
times,  that  is  to  say,  such  as  /  have  worked,  there  is  the  Verb 
to  have,  which  becomes  had,  or  shall  have,  and  so  on. 

257.  Why,  then,  should  we  perplex  ourselves  with  a 
multitude  of  artificial  distinctions,  which  [that]  can  not,  by 
any  possibility,  be  of  any  use  in  practice?  These  distinc- 
tions have  been  introduced  from  this  cause  :  those  who  [that] 
have  written  English  Grammars  have  been  taught  Latin  ; 
and  either  unable  to  divest  themselves  of  their  Latin  rules, 
or  unwilling  to  treat  with  simplicity  that  which  [that]  if 
made  somewhat  of  a  mystery,  would  make  them  appear 
more  learned  than  the  mass  of  people,  they  have  endeav- 
ored to  make  our  simple  language  turn  and  twist  itself  so 
as  to  become  as  complex  in  its  principles  as  the  Latin  lan- 
guage is. 

258.  There  are,  however,  some  few  remarks  to  be  made 
with  regard  to  the  times  of  Verbs  :  but  before  I  make  them, 
I  must  speak  of  the  participles.  Just  cast  your  eye  again 
on  Letter  VIII,  paragraphs  97  and  102.  Look  at  the  con- 
jugations of  the  Verbs  to  work,  to  have,  and  to  be,  in  that 
same  Letter.  These  participles,  you  see,  with  the  help  of 
to  have  and  to  be,  form  our  compotind  times.  I  need  not 
tell  you  that  I  was  working  means  the  same  as  /  worked, 
only  that  the  former  supposes  that  something  else  was  going 
on  at  the  same  time,  or  that  something  happened  at  the 
time  I  was  working,  or  that,  at  least,  there  is  some  circum- 
stance of  action  or  of  existence  collateral  with  my  work- 
ing :  as,  "  I  was  working  when  he  came ;  I  was  sick  while 
I  was  working  ;  it  rained  while  I  was  working  ;  she  scolded 
while  I  was  working."  I  need  not  tell  you  the  use  of  do 
and  did  j  I  need  not  say  that  I  do  work  is  the  same  as  I  work* 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  149 

only  the  former  expresses  the  action  more  positively,  and 
adds  some  degree  of  force  to  the  assertion  ;  and  that  did 
work  is  the  same  as  worked,  only  the  former  is,  in  the  past 
time,  of  the  same  use  as  do  is  in  the  present.  I  need  not 
dwell  here  on  the  uses  of  will,  shall,  may,  might,  should, 
would,  can,  could,  and  must ;  which  uses,  various  as  they  are, 
are  as  well  known  to  us  all  as  the  uses  of  our  teeth  and  our 
noses  ;  and  to  misapply  which  words  argues  not  only  a  de- 
ficiency in  the  reasoning  faculties,  but  also  a  deficiency  in 
instinctive  discrimination.  I  will  not,  my  dear  James,  in 
imitation  of  the  learned  doctors,  pester  you  with  a  philo- 
logical examination  into  the  origin  and  properties  of  words, 
with  regard  to  the  use  of  which,  if  you  were  to  commit  an 
error  in  conversation,  your  brother  Richard,  who  is  four 
years  old,  would  instantly  put  you  right.  Of  all  these  little 
words  I  have  said  quite  enough  before  ;  but  when  the 
Verbs  to  have  and  to  be  are  used  as  auxiliaries  to  ptincipal 
Verbs,  and,  especially,  when  the  sentences  are  long,  errors 
of  great  consequence  may  be  committed  ;  and,  therefore, 
against  these  it  will  be  proper  to  guard  you. 

259.  Time  is  so  plain  a  matter  ;  it  must  be  so  well 
Known  to  us,  whether  it  be  the  present,  the  past,  or  the 
future,  that  we  mean  to  express,  that  we  shall  hardly  say, 
"  We  work"  when  we  are  speaking  of  our  having  worked 
last  year.  But  you  have  seen  in  Letter  XVI,  paragraph 
171  (look  at  it  again),  that  Dr.  Blair  could  make  a  mis- 
take in  describing  the  time  of  an  action.  Doctor  Blair 
makes  use  of  "  it  had  been  better  omitted."  Meaning  that 
it  would  have  been  better  to  omit  it.  This  is  a  sheer  vul- 
garism, like,  "  I  had  as  lief  be  killed  as  enslaved."  Which 
ought  to  be,  "  I  would  as  lief."  But  the  most  common  error 
is  the  using  of  the  Verb  to  have  with  the  passive  participle, 
when  the  past  ti??ie,  simply,  or  the  infinitive  of  the  Verb, 


15°  SYNTAX,  [letter 

ought  to  be  used.  "Mr.  Speaker,  I  expected  from  the 
former  language,  and  positive  promises,  of  the  Noble  Lord 
and  the  Right  Honorable  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
to  have  seen  the  Bank  paying  in  gold  and  silver."  This  is 
House-of-Commons  language.  Avoid  it  as  you  would  avoid 
all  the  rest  of  their  doings.  I  expected  to  see,  to  be  sure, 
and  not  have  seen,  because  the  have  seen  carries  your  act  of 
seeing  back  beyond  the  period  within  which  it  is  supposed  to 
have  been  expected  to  take  place.  "  I  expected  to  have  plowed 
my  land  last  Monday."  That  is  to  say,  "  I  last  Monday 
was  in  the  act  of  expecting  to  have  plowed  my  land  before 
that  day"  But  this  is  not  what  the  writer  means.  He 
means  to  say  that,  last  Monday,  or  before  that  day,  he  was 
in  the  act  of  expecting  to  plow  his  land  on  that  day.  "  I 
called  on  him  and  wished  to  have  submitted  my  manu- 
script to  him."  Five  hundred  such  errors  are  to  be  found 
in  Dr.  Goldsmith's  works.  "  I  wished,  then  and  there,  to 
submit  my  manuscript  to  him."  I  wished  to  ao  something 
there,  and  did  not  then  wish  that  I  had  done  something 
before. 

[The  locution,  "It  had  been  better,"  instead  of,  "It 
would  have  been  better,"  is  not  a  "  sheer  vulgarism."  It  is 
sanctioned  by  high  grammatical  authority  and  the  usage  of 
many  careful  writers.  We  may  also  say,  "  I  had  as  lief," 
or  "  I  would  as  lief,"  though  the  latter  expression  is  gen- 
erally accounted  preferable.] 

260.  When  you  use  the  active  participle,  take  care  that 
the  times  be  attended  to,  and  that  you  do  not,  by  misapply 
cations,  make  confusion  and  nonsense.  "  I  had  not  the 
pleasure  of  hearing  his  sentiments  when  I  wrote  that  letter." 
It  should  be  of  having  heard ;  because  the  hearing  must  be 
supposed  to  have  been  wanted  previous  [previously]  to  the 
act  of  writing.     This  word  wanted,  and  the  word  wanting, 


Six.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  15 1 

are  frequently  misused.  "  All  that  was  wanting  was  hon- 
esty." It  should  be  wanted.  "  The  Bank  is  weighed  in  the 
balance,  and  found  wanting,"  and  not  wanted.  Found  to 
be  wanting,  or  in  want ;  in  want  of  money  to  pay  its  notes. 

261.  I  will  not  fatigue  your  memory  with  more  exam- 
ples relating  to  the  times  of  Verbs.  Consider  well  what  you 
mean  ;  what  you  wish  to  say.  Examine  well  into  the  true 
meaning  of  your  words,  and  you  will  never  make  a  mistake 
as  to  the  times.  "  /  thought  to  have  heard  the  noble  Lord 
produce  something  like  proof."  No  !  my  dear  James  will 
never  fall  into  the  use  of  such  senseless  gabble !  You 
would  think  of  hearing  something  ;  you  would  think  of  to 
hear,  not  to  have  heard.  You  would  be  waiting  to  hear,  and 
not,  like  these  men,  be  waiting  to  have  heard.  "  I  should 
have  liked  to  have  been  informed  of  the  amount  of  the  Ex- 
chequer Bills."  A  phraseology  like  this  can  be  becoming 
only  in  those  Houses  where  it  was  proposed  to  relieve  the 
distress  of  the  nation  by  setting  the  laborers  to  dig  holes 
one  day  and  [to]  fill  them  up  the  next. 

262.  It  is  erroneous  to  confound  the  past  time  with  the 
passive  participle  of  the  Verb.  But  now,  before  I  speak  of 
this  very  common  error,  let  us  see  a  little  more  about  the 
participles.  You  have  seen,  in  Letter  VIII,  what  the  parti- 
ciples are :  you  have  seen  that  working  is  the  active  parti- 
ciple, and  xvorked  the  passive  participle.  We  shall  speak 
fully  of  the  active  by-and-by.  The  passive  participle  and 
the  Verb  to  be,  or  some  part  of  that  Verb,  make  what  is 
called  the  passive  Verb.  This  is  not  a  Verb  which  [that], 
in  its  origin,  differs  from  an  active  Verb,  in  like  manner  as 
a  neuter  Verb  differs  from  an  active  Verb.  To  sleep  is  neu- 
ter in  its  origin,  and  must,  in  all  its  parts,  be  neuter  ;  but 
every  active  Verb  may  become  a  passive  Verb.  The  passive 
Verb  is,  in  fact,  that  state  of  an  active  Verb  which  [that] 


t^2  SYNTAX,  [letter 

expresses,  as  we  have  seen  above,  the  action  as  being  re* 
ceived  or  endured ;  and  it  is  called  passive  because  the  re~ 
ceiver  or  endureroi  the  action  is  passive  ;  that  is  to  say,  does 
nothing.  "John  smites;  John  is  smitten.'"  Thus,  then, 
the  passive  Verb  is  no  other  than  the  passive  participle,  used 
along  with  some  part  of  the  Verb  to  be. 

263.  Now,  then,  let  us  see  a  specimen  of  the  errors  of 
which  I  spoke  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  paragraph.  When 
the  Verb  is  regular,  there  can  be  no  error  of  this  sort  ;  be- 
cause the  past  time  and  the  passive  participle  are  written  in 
the  sam«i  manner :  as,  "  John  worked ;  John  is  worked." 
But,  whtn  the  Verb  is  irregular,  and  when  the  past  time 
and  the  passive  participle  are  written  in  a  manner  different 
from  each  other,  there  is  room  for  error,  and  error  is  often 
committed:  "  John  smote  ;  John  is  smote."  This  is  gross. 
It  offends  the  ear ;  but  when  a  company,  consisting  of  men 
who  [that]  have  been  enabled,  by  the  favor  of  the  late  Will- 
iam Pitt,  to  plunder  and  insult  the  people,  meet  under  the 
name  of  a  Pitt  Club,  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  that  cor- 
rupt and  cruel  minister,  those  who  [that]  publish  accounts 
of  their  festivities,  always  tell  us  that  such  and  such  toasts 
were  drank  ;  instead  of  drunk.  I  drank  at  my  dinner  to- 
day ;  but  the  milk  and  water  which  [that]  I  drank  were 
drunk  by  me.  In  the  lists  of  Irregular  Verbs,  in  Letter 
VIII,  the  differences  between  the  past  times  and  the  pas- 
sive participles  are  all  clearly  shown.  You  often  hear  peo- 
ple say,  and  see  them  write,  "  We  have  spoke  ;  it  was  spoke 
in  my  hearing "  ;  but  "we  have  came ;  it  was  did"  are  just 
as  correct. 

264.  Done  is  the  passive  participle  of  to  do,  and  it  is 
very  often  misused.  This  done  is  frequently  a  very  great 
offender  against  Grammar.  To  do  is  the  act  of  doing.  We 
often  see  people  write,  "  I  did  not  speak,  yesterday,  so  well 


Xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  153 

as  I  wished  to  have  done."  Now,  what  is  meant  by  the 
writer  ?  He  means  to  say  that  he  did  not  speak  so  well  as 
he  then  wished,  or  was  wishing,  to  speak.  Therefore,  the 
sentence  should  be,  "I  did  not  speak  yesterday  so  well  as 
I  wished  to  do."  That  is  to  say,  "  so  well  as  I  wished  to  do 
it  "  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  do,  or  to  perform,  the  act  of  speaking. 
265.  Take  great  care  not  to  be  too  free  in  your  use  of 
the  Verb  to  do  in  any  of  its  times  or  modes.  It  is  a  nice  lit- 
tle handy  word,  and,  like  our  oppressed  it,  it  is  made  use  of 
very  often  when  the  writer  is  at  a  loss  for  what  to  put  down. 
To  do  is  to  act,  and,  therefore,  it  never  can,  in  any  of  its 
parts,  supply  the  place  of  a  neuter  Verb.  Yet,  to  employ  it 
for  this  purpose  is  very  common.  Dr.  Blair,  in  his  23d 
Lecture,  says  :  "  It  is  somewhat  unfortunate  that  this  Num- 
ber of  the  Spectator  did  not  end,  as  it  might  very  well  have 
done,  with  the  former  beautiful  period."  That  is  to  say, 
"  done  zV."  And  then  we  ask  :  done  what?  Not  the  act 
of  ending :  because,  in  this  case,  there  is  no  action  at  all. 
The  Verb  means  to  come  to  an  end ;  to  cease ;  not  to  go  any 
further.  This  same  Verb  to  end  is  sometimes  an  active 
Verb  :  "  I  end  my  sentence  "  ;  and  then  the  Verb  to  do  may 
supply  its  place  :  as,  "  I  have  not  ended  my  sentence  so 
well  as  I  might  have  done "  ;  that  is,  done  it :  that  is, 
done,  or  performed,  the  act  of  ending.  But  the  Number  of 
the  Spectator  was  no  actor ;  it  was  expected  to  perform 
nothing :  it  was,  by  the  Doctor,  wished  to  have  ceased  to 
proceed.  "  Did  not  end  as  it  might  very  well  have  ended. 
.  .  .  ."  This  would  have  been  correct  ;  but  the  Doctor 
wished  to  avoid  the  repetition,  and  thus  he  fell  into  bad 
Grammar.  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I  do  not  feel  so  well  satisfied  as 
I  should  have  done,  if  the  Right  Honorable  Gentleman  had 
explained  the  matter  more  fully."  You  constantly  hear  talk 
like  this  among  those  whom  [that]  the  Boroughs  make  law- 


154  SYNTAX,  [letter 

givers.  To  feel  satisfied  is,  when  the  satisfaction  is  to  arise 
from  conviction  produced  by  fact  or  reasoning,  a  senseless 
expression  ;  and  to  supply  its  place  when  it  is,  as  in  this 
case,  a  neuter  Verb,  by  to  do,  is  as  senseless.  Done  what? 
Done  the  act  of  feeling !  I  do  not  feel  so  well  satisfied  as 
I  should  have  done,  or  executed,  ox  performed  the  act  of  feel- 
ing !  What  incomprehensible  words  !  Very  becoming  in 
the  creatures  of  corruption,  but  ridiculous  in  any  other  per- 
sons in  the  world. 

266.  But  do  not  misunderstand  me.  Do  not  confound 
do  and  did,  as  parts  of  a  principal  Verb,  with  the  same 
words,  as  parts  of  an  auxiliary.  Read  again  Letter  VIII, 
paragraph  in.  Do  and  did,  as  helpers,  are  used  with  neu- 
ter as  well  as  with  active  Verbs  ;  for  here  it  is  not  their 
business  to  supply  the  place  of  other  Verbs,  but  merely  to 
add  strength  to  affirmations  and  negations,  or  to  mark  time  : 
as,  "  The  sentence  does  end,  I  do  feel  easy."  But  done,  which 
is  the  passive  participle  of  the  active  Verb  to  do,  can  never 
be  used  as  an  auxiliary.  The  want  of  making  this  distinc- 
tion has  led  to  the  very  common  error  of  which  I  spoke  in 
the  last  paragraph,  and  against  which  I  am  very  desirous  to 
guard  you. 

267.  In  sentences  which  [that]  are  negative,  or  inter- 
rogative, do  and  did  express  time  :  as,  ' '  You  do  not  sleep  ; 
did  you  not  feel?  "  But  they  do  not  here  supply  the  place  of 
other  Verbs  :  they  merely  help  ;  and  their  assistance  is  useful 
only  as  to  the  circumstance  of  time  ;  for  we  may  say,  "You 
sleep  not ;  felt  you  not  ?  "  And  if  in  answer  to  this  question 
I  say,  "  I  did,"  the  word  feel  is  understood  :  "  I  did  feel." 

268.  Well,  then,  I  think,  that  as  far  as  relates  to  the 
active  Verb,  the  passive  Verb,  and  the  passive  participle, 
enough  has  now  been  said.  You  have  seen,  too,  something 
of  the  difference  between  the  functions  of  the  active  Verb, 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  155 

and  those  of  the  neifter  ;  but  there  are  a  few  remarks  to  be 
made  with  regard  to  the  latter.  A  neuter  Verb  can  not  have 
a  noun  or  a  pronoun  in  the  objective  case  immediately  after 
it ;  for  though  we  say,  "  I  dream  a  dream"  it  is  understood 
that  my  mind  has  been  engaged  in  a  dream.  "I  live  a 
good  life"  means  that  I  am  living  in  a  good  manner.  "  I 
walk  my  horse  abc  ut,"  means  that  I  lead  or  conduct  my 
horse  in  the  pace  called  a  walk.  Nor  can  a  neuter  Verb 
become  passive  ;  because  a  passive  Verb  is  no  other  than  a 
Verb  describing  an  action  received  ox  endured.  "  The  noble 
Earl,  on  returning  to  town,  found  that  the  noble  Countess 
was  eloped  with  his  Grace."  I  read  this  very  sentence  in  an 
English  newspaper  not  long  ago.  It  should  be  had  eloped ; 
for  was  eloped  means  that  somebody  had  eloped  the  Countess  : 
it  means  that  she  had  received  or  endured,  from  some  actor, 
the  act  of  eloping,  whereas,  she  is  the  actress,  and  the  act  is 
confined  to  herself.  The  Verb  is  called  neuter  because  the 
action  does  not  pass  over  to  anything.  There  are  Verbs 
which  [that]  are  inactive  :  such  as,  to  sit,  to  sleep,  to  exist. 
These  are  also  neuter  Verbs,  of  course.  But  inactivity  is 
not  necessary  to  the  making  of  a  Verb  neuter.  It  is  suffi- 
cient for  this  purpose  that  the  action  do  not  pass  from  the 
actor  to  any  object. 

269.  In  the  instance  just  mentioned  the  error  is  flagrant : 
"  Was  eloped"  is  what  few  persons  would  put  down  in  writ- 
ing :  yet  anybody  might  do  it  upon  the  authority  of  Dr. 
fohnson  :  for  he  says,  in  his  Dictionary,  that  to  elope  is  an 
active  Verb,  though  he  says  that  it  is  synonymous  with  to 
ran  away,  which,  in  the  same  Dictionary,  he  says,  is  a  neu- 
ter Verb.  However,  let  those  who  [that]  prefer  Doctor 
Johnson's  authority  to  the  dictates  of  reason  and  common 
sense  say  that  "his  Grace  eloped  the  Countess ;  and  that, ac- 
cordingly, the  Countess  was  eloped." 


156  SYNTAX,  [letter 

270.  The  danger  of  error,  in  cases  of  this  kind,  arises 
from  the  circumstance  of  there  being  many  Verbs  which 
[that]  are  active  in  one  sense  and  neuter  in  another.  The 
Verb  to  endure,  for  instance,  when  it  means  to  support,  to 
sustain,  is  active  :  as,  "  I  endure  pain"  But  when  it  means 
to  last,  to  continue,  it  is  neuter  :  as,  "  The  earth  endures 
from  age  to  age."  In  the  first  sense  we  can  say,  the  pain  is 
endured :  but,  in  the  last,  we  can  not  say  the  earth  is  en- 
duredfrom  age  to  age."  We  say,  indeed,  I  am  fallen  ;  the 
colt  is  grown,  the  trees  are  rotten,  the  stone  is  crumbled,  the 
post  is  moldered,  the  pitcher  is  cracked ;  though  to  grow,  to 
rot,  to  crumble,  to  molder,  to  crack,  are  all  of  them  neuter 

Verbs.  But  it  is  clearly  understood  here  that  we  mean  that 
the  colt  is  in  a  grown,  or  augmented  state  ;  that  the  trees  are 
in  a  rotten  state  ;  and  so  on  :  and  it  is  equally  clear  that  we 
could  not  mean  that  the  Countess  was  in  an  eloped  state. 
"  The  noble  Earl  found  that  the  Countess  was  gone."  This 
is  correct,  though  to  go  is  a  neuter  Verb.  But  gone,  in  this 
sense,  is  not  the  participle  of  the  Verb  to  go  ;  it  is  merely 
an  adjective,  meaning  absent.  If  we  put  any  word  after  it, 
which  [that]  gives  it  a  verbal  signification,  it  becomes  er- 
roneous. "  He  found  that  the  Countess  was  gone  out  of  the 
house."  That  is  to  say,  was  absent  out  of  the  house  ;  and 
this  is  nonsense.  It  must  in  this  case  be,  "  He  found  that 
the  Countess  had  gone  out  of  the  house." 

271.  Much  more  might  be  said  upon  this  part  of  my 
subject ;  many  niceties  might  be  stated  and  discussed  ;  but 
I  have  said  quite  enough  on  it  to  answer  every  useful  pur- 
pose. Here,  as  everywhere  else,  take  time  to  thi7ik.  There 
is  a  reason  for  the  right  use  of  every  word.  Have  your 
meaning  clear  in  your  mind  ;  know  the  meaning  of  all  the 
words  you  employ ;  and  then  you  will  seldom  commit 
errors. 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  157 

272=  There  remains  to  be  noticed  the  use  of  the  active 
participle,  and  then  we  shall  have  a  few,  and  only  a  few, 
words  to  say  upon  the  subject  of  the  modes  of  Verbs.  As  to 
the  active  participle,  paragraph  97,  in  Letter  VIII,  will 
have  told  you  nearly  all  that  is  necessary.  We  know  well 
that  /  am  working,  means  that  /  work,  and  so  on.  There  is 
great  nicety  in  distinguishing  the  circumstances  which  [that] 
call  for  the  use  of  the  one  from  those  which  [that]  call  for 
the  other :  but,  like  many  other  things,  though  very  diffi- 
cult to  explain  by  words,  these  circumstances  are  perfectly 
well  understood,  and  scrupulously  attended  to,  by  even  the 
most  illiterate  persons.  The  active  participle  is,  you  know, 
sometimes  a  no un  in  its  functions  :  as,  "  Working  is  good 
for  our  health."  Here  it  is  the  nominative  case  to  the  Verb 
is.  Sometimes  it  is  an  adjective  :  as,  "  the  working  peo- 
ple." As  a  noun  it  may  be  in  any  of  the  three  cases :  as, 
"  Working  is  good  ;  the  advantage  of  working ;  I  like  work- 
ing." It  may  be  in  the  singular  or  in  the  plural :  "  The 
working  of  the  mines  ;  the  workings  of  corruption."  Of 
course  it  requires  articles  and  prepositions  as  nouns  require 
them.  More  need  not  be  said  about  it  ;  and,  indeed,  my 
chief  purpose  in  mentioning  the  active  participle  in  this 
place  is  to  remind  you  that  it  may  be  a  nominative  case  in  a 
sentence. 

273.  The  modes  have  been  explained  in  Letter  VIII, 
paragraphs  92,  93,  94,  95,  and  96.  Read  those  paragraphs 
again.  The  infinitive  mode  has,  in  almost  all  respects,  the 
power  of  a  noun.  "  To  work  is  good  for  our  health."  Here 
it  is  the  nominative  of  the  sentence.  "  To  eat,  to  drink, 
and  to  sleep,  are  necessary."  It  can  not  become  a  plural ; 
but  it  may  be,  and  frequently  is,  in  the  objective  case  :  as, 
"  /  want  to  eat."  The  to  is,  in  some  few  cases,  omitted 
when  the  infinitive  is  in  the  objective  case  :  as,  "  /  dan 


158  SYNTAX,  [letter 

wiite."  But,  "I  dare  to  write,"  is  just  as  neat,  and  more 
proper.  The  to  is  omitted  by  the  use  of  the  ellipsis :  as, 
"  I  like  to  shoot,  hunt,  and  course."  But  care  must  be  taken 
not  to  leave  out  the  to,  if  you  thereby  make  the  meaning 
doubtful.  Repetition  is 'sometimes  disagreeable,  and  tends 
to  enfeeble  language  ;  but  it  is  always  preferable  to  ob- 
scurity. 

274.  If  you  cast  your  eye  once  more  on  the  conjugation 
of  the  Verb  to  work,  in  Letter  VIII,  you  will  see  that  1 
have  there  set  down  the  three  other  modes,  with  all  theii 
persons,  numbers,  and  times.  The  imperative  mode  I  dis- 
patched very  quietly  by  a  single  short  paragraph  ;  and,  in- 
deed, in  treating  of  the  other  two  modes,  the  indicative  and 
the  subjunctive,  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  to  point  out  the 
trifling  variations  that  our  Verbs  undergo  in  order  to  make 
them  suit  their  forms  to  the  differences  of  ?node.  The  in- 
dicative mode  is  that  manner  of  using  the  Verb  which  [that] 
is  applied  when  we  are  speaking  of  an  action  without  any 
other  action  being  at  all  connected  with  it,  so  as  to  make 
the  one  a  condition  or  consequence  of  the  other.  "  He  works 
every  day  ;  he  rides  out  "  ;  and  so  on.  But,  there  may  be  a 
condition  or  a  consequence  dependent  on  this  working  and 
riding:  and  in  that  case  these  Verbs  must  be  in  the  sub- 
junctive mode  ;  because  the  action  they  express  depends  on 
something  else,  going  before  or  coming  after.  "  If  he  work 
every  day,  he  shall  be  paid  every  day  :  if  he  ride  out,  he  will 
not  be  at  home  by  supper-time."  The  s  is  dropped  at  the 
end  of  the  Verb  here  ;  and  the  true  cause  is  this,  that  there 
is  a  sign  understood.  If  filled  up,  the  sentence  would  stand 
thus  :  "  If  he  should  work  ;  if  he  should  ride  out."  So  that, 
after  all,  the  Verb  has,  in  reality,  no  change  of  termination 
to  denote  ?vhat  is  called  mode.  And  all  the  fuss  which  [that] 
Grammarians  have  made  about  the  potential  modes,  and 


xix.J  AS  RELATING   TO    VERBS.  1 59 

other  fanciful  distinctions  of  the  kind,  only  serve   [serve 
only]  to  puzzle  and  perplex  the  learner. 

275.  Verbs  in  general,  and,  indeed,  all  the  Verbs,  ex- 
cept the  Verb  to  be,  have  always  the  same  form  in  the  pres- 
ent time  of  the  indicative  and  in  that  of  tJie  subjunctive,  in 
all  the  persons,  save  the  second  and  third  person  singular. 
Thus,  we  say,  in  the  present  of  the  indicative,  /  work,  we 
work, you  work,  they  work  ;  and  in  the  subjunctive  the  same. 
But  we  say,  in  the  former,  thou  workest,  he  works  ;  while, 
in  the  subjunctive,  we  say,  thou  work,  he  work ;  that  is  to 
say,  thou  mayst  work,  or  mightest,  or  shouldest  (and  so  on), 
work  ;  and  he  may  work,  or  might  or  should,  as  the  sense 
may  require.  Therefore,  as  to  all  Verbs,  except  the  Verb 
to  be,  it  is  only  in  these  two  persons  that  anything  can  hap- 
pen to  render  any  distinction  of  mode  necessary.  But  the 
Verb  to  be  has  more  variation  than  any  other  Verb.  All 
other  Verbs  have  the  same  form  in  their  indicative  present 
time  as  in  their  infinitive  mode,  with  the  trifling  exception 
of  the  st  and  s  added  to  the  second  and  third  person  singu- 
lar :  as,  to  have,  to  write,  to  work,  to  run  ;  I  have,  I  write, 
I  work,  I  run.  But  the  Verb  to  be  becomes,  in  the  present 
time  of  its  indicative,  I  am,  thou  art,  he  is,  we  are,  you  are, 
they  are  ;  which  are  great  changes.  Therefore,  as  the  sub- 
junctive, in  all  its  persons,  takes  the  infinitive  of  the  Verb 
without  any  change  at  all,  the  Verb  to  be  exhibits  the  use  of 
this  mode  most  clearly ;  for,  instead  of  I  am,  thou  art,  he 
is,  we  are,  the  subjunctive  requires,  I  be,  thou  be,  he  be,  we 
be  ;  that  is  to  say,  I  may  be,  or  might  be :  and  so  on.  Look 
now  at  the  conjugation  of  the  Verb  to  be,  in  Letter  VIII, 
paragraph  117 ;  and  then  come  back  to  me. 

276.  You  see,  then,  that  this  important  Verb,  to  be,  has 
a  form  in  some  of  its  persons  appropriated  to  the  subjunctive 
mode.    This  is  a  matter  of  consequence.     Distinctions,  with- 


160  SYNTAX,  [LETTER 

out  differences  in  the  things  distinguished,  are  fanciful,  and, 
at  best,  useless.  Here  is  a  real  difference  ;  a  practical  differ- 
ence ;  a  difference  in  the  form  of  the  word.  Here  is  a. past 
time  of  the  subjunctive  ;  a  past  time  distinguished,  in  some 
of  its  persons,  by  a  different  manner  of  spelling  or  writing 
the  word.  If  I  be  ;  if  I  were ;  if  he  were  ;  and  not  if  I  was, 
if  he  was.  In  the  case  of  other  Verbs,  the  past  of  the  in- 
dicative is  the  same  as  the  past  of  the  subjunctive  ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  Verb  is  written  in  the  same  letters :  but  in  the 
case  of  the  Verb  to  be  it  is  otherwise.  If  I  worked,  if  I 
smote,  if  I  had.  Here  the  Verbs  are  the  same  as  in  I 
worked,  I  smote,  I  had ;  but  in  the  case  of  the  Verb  to  be, 
we  must  say,  in  the  past  of  the  indicative,  I  was,  and  in 
that  of  the  subjunctive,  if  I  were. 

277.  The  question,  then,  is  this  :  What  are  the  cases  in 
which  we  ought  to  use  the  subjunctive  form?  Bishop 
Lowth,  and,  on  his  authority,  Mr.  Lindley  Murray,  have 
said,  that  some  conjunctions  have  a  government  of  verbs  ; 
that  is  to  say,  make  them  or  force  them  to  be  in  the  subjunctive 
mode.  And  then  these  gentlemen  mention  particularly  the 
conjunctions  if,  though,  unless,  and  some  others.  But  (and 
these  gentlemen  allow  it),  the  Verbs  which  [that]  follow 
these  conjunctions  are  not  always  in  the  subjunctive  mode  ; 
and  the  using  of  that  mode  must  depend,  not  upon  the  con- 
junction, but  upon  the  sense  of  the  whole  sentence.  How, 
then,  can  the  conjunction  govern  the  Verb?  It  is  the  sense, 
the  meaning  of  the  whole  sentence,  which  [that]  must  gov- 
ern ;  and  of  this  you  will  presently  see  clear  proof.  " If  it 
be  dark:  do  not  come  home.  If  eating  is  necessary  to  man, 
he  ought  not  to  be  a  glutton."  In  the  first  of  these  sen- 
tences, the  matter  expressed  by  the  Verb  may  be  or  may  not 
be.  There  exists  an  uncertainty  on  the  subject.  And  if 
the  sentence  were  filled  up,  it  would  stand  thus :  M  If  it 


xix.]  AS  RELATING    TO    VERBS.  161 

should  be  dark,  do  not  come  home."  But  in  the  second 
sentence  there  exists  no  such  uncertainty.  We  know,  and 
all  the  world  knows,  that  eating  is  necessary  to  man.  We 
could  not  fill  up  the  sentence  with  should ;  and,  therefore, 
we  make  use  of  is.  Thus,  then,  the  conjunction  if,  which 
you  see  is  employed  in  both  cases,  has  nothing  at  all  to  do 
with  the  government  of  the  verb.  It  is  the  sense  which 
[that]  governs. 

278.  There  is  a  great  necessity  for  care  as  to  this 
matter  ;  for  the  meaning  of  what  we  write  is  very  much 
affected  when  we  make  use  of  the  modes  indiscriminately. 
Let  us  take  an  instance.  "  Though  her  chastity  be  right 
and  becoming,  it  gives  her  no  claim  to  praise  ;  because  she 
would  be  criminal  if  she  were  not  chaste."  Now,  by  em- 
ploying the  subjunctive,  in  the  first  member  of  the  sentence, 
we  leave  it  uncertain  whether  it  be  right  or  not  for  her  to 
be  chaste  ;  and,  by  employing  it  in  the  second,  we  express 
a  doubt  as  to  the  fact  of  her  chastity.  We  mean  neither  of 
these  ;  and,  therefore,  notwithstanding  here  are  a  though 
and  [an]  if,  both  the  Verbs  ought  to  be  in  the  indicative. 
"  Though  her  chastity  is  right  and  becoming,  it  gives  her 
no  claim  to  praise  :  because,  she  would  be  criminal  if  she 
•was  [were]  not  chaste."  Fill  up  with  the  signs.  "  Though 
her  chastity  may  be  right ;  if  she  should  not  be  chaste  "  ;  and 
then  you  see,  at  once,  what  a  difference  there  is  in  the 
meaning. 

279.  The  subjunctive  is  necessarily  always  used  where 
a  sign  is  left  out :  as,  ' '  Take  care  that  he  come  to-morrow, 
that  you  be  ready  to  receive  him,  that  he  be  well  received, 
and  that  all  things  be  duly  prepared  for  his  entertainment." 
Fill  up  with  the  signs,  and  you  will  see  the  reason  for  what 
you  write. 

280.  The  Verb  to  be  is  sometimes  used  thus  :  "  Were  hi 

n 


1 62  SYNTAX,  [letter 

rich,  I  should  not  like  him  the  better.  Were  it  not  dark,  I 
would  go."  That  is  to  say,  if  he  were  :  if  it  were.  "It 
were  a  jest,  indeed,  to  consider  a  set  of  seat-sellers  and  seat- 
buyers  as  a  lawful  legislative  body.  //  were  to  violate 
every  principle  of  morality  to  consider  honesty  as  a  virtue, 
when  not  to  be  honest  is  a  crime  which  [that]  the  law 
punishes."  The  it  stands  for  a  great  deaf  here.  "  Ridicu- 
lous, indeed,  would  the  state  of  our  minds  be,  if  it  were 
such  as  to  exhibit  a  set  of  seat-sellers  and  seat-buyers  as  a 
lawful  legislative  body."  I  mention  these  instances  be- 
cause they  appear  unaccountable ;  and  I  never  like  to  slur 
things  over.  Those  expressions  for  the  using  of  which  we 
can  not  give  a  reason  ought  not  to  be  used  at  all. 

281.  As  to  instances  in  which  authors  have  violated 
the  principles  of  Grammar,  with  respect  to  the  use  of  the 
modes,  I  could  easily  fill  a  book  much  larger  than  this  with 
instances  of  this  kind  from  Judge  Blackstone  and  Doctor 
Johnson.  One  only  shall  suffice.  I  take  it  from  the 
Judge's  first  Book  :  "  Therefore,  if  the  king  purchases 
lands  of  the  nature  of  gavelkind,  where  all  the  sons  inherit 
equally ;  yet,  upon  the  king's  demise,  his  eldest  son  shall 
succeed  to  these  lands  alone.'"  Here  is  fine  confusion,  not 
to  say  something  inclining  toward  high-treason  ;  for,  if  the 
king's  son  be  to  inherit  these  lands  alone,  he,  of  course,  is 
not  to  inherit  the  crown.  But,  it  is  the  Verb  purchases  with 
which  we  have  to  do  at  present.  Now,  it  is  notorious  that 
the  king  does  not  purchase  land  in  gavelkind,  or  any  other 
lands  ;  whereas,  from  the  form  of  the  Verb,  it  is  taken  for 
granted  that  he  does  it.     It  should  have  been,  "  If  the  king 

purchase  lands  "  ;  that  is  to  say,  if  he  were  to  purchase,  or  if 
he  should  purchase. 

282.  Thus,  my  dear  James,  have  I  gone  through  all 
that    appeared    to    me    of   importance,   relating   to   Verbs. 


xx.]     AS  RELATING    TO  ADVERBS,   ETC.    163 

Every  part  of  the  Letter  ought  to  [should]  be  carefully  read, 
and  its  meaning  ought  to  [should]  be  well  weighed  in  your 
mind  ;  but  always  recollect  that,  in  the  using  of  Verbs, 
that  which  [that]  requires  your  first  and  most  earnest  care 
is  the  ascertaining  of  the  nominative  of  the  sentence  ;  for, 
out  of  every  hundred  grammatical  errors,  full  fifty,  I  be- 
lieve, are  committed  for  want  of  due  attention  as  to  this 
matter. 


LETTER   XX. 


SYNTAX,    AS     RELATING    TO    ADVERBS,    PREPOSITIONS,    AND 
CONJUNCTIONS. 

283.  After  what  has  been  said,  my  dear  James,  on  the 
subject  of  the  Verb,  there  remains  little  to  be  added.  The 
Adverbs,  Prepositions,  and  Conjunctions,  are  all  words 
which  [that]  never  vary  their  endings.  Their  uses  have 
been  sufficiently  illustrated  in  the  Letters  on  the  Syntax, 
of  Nouns,  Pronouns,  and  Verbs.  In  a  Letter  which  [that] 
is  yet  to  come,  and  which  [that]  will  contain  specimens  of 
false  Grammar,  the  misuse  of  many  words,  belonging  to 
these  inferior  Parts  of  Speech,  will  be  noticed  ;  but  it  would 
be  a  waste  of  your  time  to  detain  you  by  [with]  an  elabo- 
rate account  of  that  which  [that]  it  is,  by  this  time,  hardly 
possible  for  you  not  to  understand. 

284.  Some  grammarians  have  given  lists  of  Adverbs, 
Prepositions,  and  Conjunctions.  For  what  reason  I  know- 
not,  seeing  that  they  have  not  attempted  to  give  lists  of  the 
words  of  other  Parts  of  Speech.  These  lists  must  be  de- 
fective, and,  therefore,  worse  than  no  lists.  To  find  out 
the  meaning  of  single  words,  the  Dictionary  is  the  place. 
The  business  of  Grammar  is  to  show  the  connection  be- 


1 64  SYNTAX,  ETC.  [letter 

tween  words,  and  the  manner  of  using  words  properly. 
The  sole  cause  of  this  dwelling  upon  these  Parts  of  Speech 
appears  to  me  to  have  been  a  notion  that  they  would  seem 
to  be  neglected,  unless  a  certain  number  of  pages  of  the 
book  were  allotted  to  each.  To  be  sure,  each  of  them  is  a 
part  of  Speech,  as  completely  as  the  little  finger  is  a  part  of 
the  body  :  but  few  persons  will  think  that,  because  we  des- 
cant very  frequently,  and  at  great  length,  upon  the  qualities 
of  the  head  and  heart,  we  ought  to  do  the  same  with  regard 
to  the  qualities  of  the  little  finger. 

285.  I  omitted,  in  the  Letter  on  Verbs,  to  notice  the 
use  of  the  word  thing ;  and  I  am  not  sorry  that  I  did,  be- 
cause by  my  noticing  it  in  this  concluding  paragraph,  tne 
matter  may  make  a  deeper  impression  on  your  mind.  Thing 
is,  of  course,  a  noun.  A  pen  is  a  thing,  and  every  animal, 
or  creature,  animate  or  inanimate,  is  a  thing.  We  apply  it 
to  the  representing  of  every  creature  in  the  universe,  ex- 
cept to  men,  women,  and  children  ;  and  a  creature  is  that 
which  [that]  has  been  created,  be  it  living,  like  a  horse,  or 
dead,  like  dirt  or  stones.  The  use  of  the  word  thing,  as  far 
as  this  goes,  is  plainly  reconcilable  to  reason  ;  but  "  to  get 
drunk  is  a  beastly  thing."  Here  is  neither  human  being, 
irrational  animal,  nor  inanimate  creature.  Here  is  merely 
an  action.  Well,  then,  this  action  is  the  thing  ;  for,  as  you 
have  seen  in  Letter  XIX,  paragraph  273,  a  verb  in  the  in- 
finitive mode  has,  in  almost  all  respects,  the  function  and 
powers  of  a  noun.  "  It  is  a  most  atrocious  thing  to  uphold 
the  Bank  of  England  in  refusing  to  give  gold  for  its  promis- 
sory notes,  and  to  compel  the  nation  to  submit  to  the  wrong 
that  it  sustained  from  that  refusal."  The  meaning  is,  that 
the  whole  of  these  measures  or  transactions  constituted  a 
most  atrocious  deed  or  thing. 


XXI.]   SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE   GRAMMAR.    165 


LETTER   XXI. 

specimens  of  false  grammar,  taken  from  the  writ- 
ings  of  doctor  johnson  and  from  those  of  doc- 
tor watts. 

My  dear  James  : 

The  chief  object  of  this  letter  is  to  prove  to  you  the  ne- 
cessity of  using  great  care  and  caution  in  the  construction 
of  your  sentences.  When  you  see  writers  like  Dr.  Johnson 
and  Dr.  Watts  committing  grammatical  errors,  and,  in  some 
instances,  making  their  words  amount  to  nonsense,  or  at 
least  make  their  meaning  doubtful  ;  when  you  see  this  in 
the  author  of  a  Grammar  and  of  a  Dictionary  of  the  Eng- 
lish Language,  and  in  the  author  of  a  work  on  the  subject 
of  Logic  ;  and  when  you  are  informed  that  these  were  two 
of  the  most  learned  men  that  England  [has]  ever  produced, 
you  can  not  fail  to  be  convinced  that  constant  care  and 
caution  are  necessary  to  prevent  you  from  committing  not 
only  similar,  but  much  greater,  errors. 

Another  object  in  the  producing  of  these  specimens,  is 
to  convince  you  that  a  knowledge  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages  does  not  prevent  men  from  writing  bad  English. 
Those  languages  are,  by  impostors  and  their  dupes,  called 
11  the  learned  languages  "  ;  and  those  who  [that]  have  paid 
for  having  studied  them  are  said  to  have  received  "  a  liberal 
education."  These  appellations  are  false,  and,  of  course, 
they  lead  to  false  conclusions.  Learning,  as  a  noun,  means 
knowledge,  and  learned  means  knowing  ox  possessed  of  knowl- 
edge. Learning  is,  then,  to  be  acquired  by  conception  ;  and 
\t  is  shown  in  judgment,  in  reasoning,  and  in  the  various 
modes  of  employing  it.  What,  then,  can  learning  have  to 
do  with  any  particular  tongue !     Good  Grammar,  for  in- 


1 66  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letter 

stance,  written  in  Welsh,  or  in  the  language  of  the  Chip- 
pewa savages,  is  more  learned  than  bad  Grammar  written  in 
Greek.  The  learning  is  in  the  mind  and  not  in  the  tongue  : 
learning  consists  of  ideas  and  not  of  the  noise  that  is  made 
by  the  mouth.  If,  for  instance,  the  Reports  drawn  up  by 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  [omit]  which  are  composi- 
tions discovering  in  every  sentence  ignorance  the  most  pro- 
found, were  written  in  Latin,  should  we  then  call  them 
learned?  Should  we  say  that  the  mere  change  of  the 
words  from  one  tongue  into  another  made  that  learned 
which  [that]  was  before  unlearned  ?  As  well  may  we 
say  that  a  falsehood  written  in  English  would  have  been 
truth  if  written  in  Latin  ;  and  as  well  may  we  say  that  a 
certain  handwriting  is  a  learned  handwriting,  or,  that  cer- 
tain sorts  of  ink  and  paper  are  learned  ink  and  paper,  as 
that  a  language,  or  tongue,  is  a  learned  language,  or 
tongue. 

The  cause  of  the  use  of  this  false  appellation,  "  learned 
languages,"  is  this,  that  those  who  [that]  teach  them  in 
England  have,  in  consequence  of  their  teaching,  very  large 
estates  in  house  and  land,  which  are  public  property,  but 
which  are  now  used  for  the  sole  benefit  of  those  teachers, 
who  are,  in  general,  the  relations  [relatives]  or  dependents 
of  the  Aristocracy.  In  order  to  give  a  color  of  reasonable- 
ness to  this  species  of  appropriation,  the  languages  taught 
by  the  possessors  are  called  "  the  learned  languages  "  ;  and 
[omit]  which  appellation  is,  at  the  same  time,  intended  to 
cause  the  mass  of  the  people  to  believe  that  the  professors 
and  learners  of  these  languages  are,  in  point  of  wisdom,  far 
superior  to  other  men  ;  and  to  establish  the  opinion  that  all 
but  themselves  are  unlearned  persons.  In  short,  the  appel- 
lation, like  many  others,  is  a  trick  which  [that]  fraud  has 
furnished  for  the  purpose  of  guarding  the  snug  possessors  of 


xxi.]     OF  DRS.    JOHNSON  AND    WATTS.      167 

the  property  against  the  consequences  of  the  people's  under- 
standing the  matter. 

It  is  curious  enough  that  this  appellation  of  "  learned 
languages  "  is  confined  to  the  English  nation  and  the  Ameri- 
can, which  inherits  it  from  the  English.  Neither  in  France, 
in  Spain,  in  Italy,  nor  in  Germany  is  this  false  and  absurd 
appellation  in  use.  The  same  motives  have  not  existed  in 
those  countries.  There  the  monks  and  other  priests  have 
inherited  from  the  founders.  They  had  not  any  occasion  to 
resort  to  this  species  of  imposition.  But  in  England  the 
thing  required  to  be  glossed  over.  There  was  something  or 
other  required  in  that  country  as  an  apology  for  taking 
many  millions  a  year  from  the  public  to  keep  men  to  do  no 
apparently  useful  thing. 

Seeing  themselves  unable  to  maintain  the  position  that 
the  Latin  and  Greek  are  more  "  learned  languages  "  than 
others,  the  impostors  and  their  dupes  tell  us  that  this  is  not 
what  they  mean.  They  mean,  they  say,  not  that  those  lan- 
guages are,  in  themselves,  more  learned  than  others  ;  but 
that,  to  possess  a  knowledge  of  them  is  a  proof  that  the  pos- 
sessor is  a  learned  man.  To  be  sure,  they  do  not  offer  us 
any  argument  in  support  of  this  assertion  ;  while  it  would 
be  easy  to  show  that  the  assertion  must,  in  every  case,  be 
false.  But  let  it  suffice,  for  this  time,  that  we  show  that  the 
possession  of  the  knowledge  of  those  languages  does  not 
prevent  men  from  committing  numerous  grammatical  errors 
when  they  write  in  their  native  language. 

I  have,  for  this  purpose,  fixed  upon  the  writings  of  Doc- 
tor Johnson  and  of  Doctor  Watts  ;  because,  besides  its  be- 
ing well  known  that  they  were  deeply  skilled  in  Latin  and 
Greek,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  two  men  with  more  real 
learning.  I  take  also  the  two  works  for  which  they  are  re- 
spectively the  most  celebrated  ;  the  Rambler  of  Doctor 


1 68  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letter 

Johnson,*  and  the  Logic  of  Doctor  Watts.f  These  are 
•works  of  very  great  learning.  The  Rambler,  though  its 
general  tendency  is  to  spread  a  gloom  over  life,  and  to  damp 
all  enterprise,  private  as  well  as  public,  displays  a  vast  fund 
of  knowledge  in  the  science  of  morals  ;  and  the  Logic, 
though  the  religious  zeal  of  its  pious,  sincere,  and  benevo- 
lent author  has  led  him  into  the  very  great  error  of  taking 
his  examples  of  self-evident  propositions  from  among 
those,  many  of  which  great  numbers  of  men  think  not  to  be 
self-evident,  is  a  work  wherein  profound  learning  is  con- 
veyed in  a  style  the  most  simple,  and  in  a  manner  the  most 
pleasing.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  Logic  was 
not  revised  with  great  care  ;  and,  as  to  the  Rambleu,  the 
biographer  of  its  author  tells  us  that  the  Doctor  made  six 
thousand  corrections  and  alterations  before  the  work  was 
printed  in  volumes. 

The  Rambler  is  in  Numbers  :  therefore,  at  the  end  of 
each  extract  from  it,  I  shall  put  the  Letter  R,  and  the  ATum- 
ber.  The  Logic  is  divided  into  Parts  and  Chapters.  At 
the  end  of  each  extract  from  it,  I  shall  put  L  ;  and  then  add 
the  Part  and  Chapter.  I  shall  range  the  extracts  under  the 
names  of  the  Parts  of  Speech  to  which  the  erroneous  words 
respectively  belong. 

Articles. 

"  I  invited  her  to  spend  the  day  in  viewing  a  seat  and 
gardens." — R.  No.  34. 

"  For  all  our  speculative  acquaintance  with  things  should 

*  The  first  number  of  the  Rambler  was  published  on  Tuesday, 
March  20,  i749-'5o,  and  the  last  on  Saturday  the  17th  (14th,  in  fact) 
March,  1752. 

t  "  Logick :  or  The  Right  Use  of  Reason  in  the  Enquiry  aftel 
Truth."     By  Dr.  Isaac  Watts,  first  published  in  1725. 


xxi.]     OF  DRS.    JOHNSON  AND    WATTS.      169 

be  made  subservient  to  our  better  conduct  in  the  civil  and 
religious  life." — L.  Introduction. 

The  indefinite  article  a  can  not,  you  know,  be  put  be- 
fore a  plural  noun.  We  can  not  say  a  gardens  ;  but  this  is, 
in  fact,  said  in  the  above  extract.  It  should  have  been  "  a 
seat  and  its  gardens."  "  Civil  and  religious  life"  are  gen- 
eral and  indefinite  in  the  second  extract.  The  article,  there- 
fore, was  unnecessary,  and  is  improperly  used.  Look  back 
at  the  use  of  Articles,  Letter  IV. 

Nouns. 

,{ Among  the  innumerable  historical  authors,  who  fill 
every  nation  with  accounts  of  their  ancestors  or  undertake 
to  transmit  to  futurity  the  events  of  their  own  time,  the 
greater  part,  when  fashion  and  novelty  have  ceased  to  rec- 
ommend them,  are  of  no  other  use  than  chro?iological  me- 
mo) ials,  which  necessity  may  sometimes  require  to  be  con- 
sulted."— R.  No.  122. 

This  is  all  confusion,  vt/ hose  ancestors?  The  nation's 
ancestors  are  meant :  but  the  author  s  are  expressed.  The 
two  theirs  and  the  them  clearly  apply  to  the  same  Noun. 
How  easily  all  this  confusion  would  have  been  avoided  by 
considering  the  nation  as  a  singular,  and  saying  its  ancestors  ! 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  sentence,  the  authors  are  called 
chronological  memorials ;  and  though  we  may,  in  some 
cases,  use  the  word  author  for  author's  work  ;  yet,  in  a  case 
like  this,  where  we  are  speaking  of  the  authors  as  actors, 
we  can  not  take  such  a  liberty. 

"  Each  of  these  classes  of  the  human  race  has  desires, 
fears,  and  conversation,  peculiar  to  itself ;  cares  which 
[that]  another  can  not  feel,  and  pleasures  of  which  he  can 
not  partake." — R.  No.  160. 

The  noun  of  multitude,  classes,  being  preceded  by  eacht 


170  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letter 

has  the  pronoun  itself,  properly  put  after  it ;  but  the  he. 
does  not  correspond  with  these.  It  should  have  been  it. 
With  regard  to  these  two  extracts,  see  paragraph  181. 

"  His  great  ambition  was  to  shoot  flying,  and  he,  there- 
fore, spent  whole  days  in  the  woods,  pursuing  game,  which, 
before  he  was  near  enough  to  see  them,  his  approach 
frighted  away." — R.  No.  66. 

Game  is  not  a  noun  of  multitude,  like  mob,  or  House  of 
Commons.  There  are  different  games  or  pastimes  ;  but  this 
word,  as  applied  to  the  describing  of  wild  animals,  has  no 
plural ;  and,  therefore,  can  not  have  a  plural  pronoun  to 
stand  for  it. 

"  The  obvious  duties  of  piety  toward  God  and  love 
toward  man,  with  the  governments  of  all  our  inclinations 
and  passions." — L.  Part  4. 

This  plural  is  so  clearly  wrong  that  I  need  not  show 
why  it  is  wrong. 

"  And  by  this  mean  they  will  better  judge  what  to 
choose." — L.  Part  4. 

Mean,  as  a  noun,  is  never  used  in  the  singular.  It,  like 
some  other  words,  has  broken  loose  from  all  principle  and 
rule.  By  universal  acquiescence  it  is  become  always  a  plural, 
whether  used  with  singular  or  plural  pronouns  and  articles 
or  not.     Doctor  Watts,  in  other  instances,  says  this  means. 

11  Having  delayed  to  buy  a  coach  myself,  till  I  should 
have  the  lady's  opinion,  for  whose  use  it  was  intended." — 
R.  No.  34. 

We  know  that  whose  relates  to  lady,  according  to  the 
Doctor's  meaning  ;  but,  grammatically,  it  does  not.  It  re- 
lates to  opinion.  It  should  have  been,  "  the  opinion  of  the 
lady  for  whose  use."  See  Syntax  of  Nouns,  Letter  XVI, 
paragraphs  170  and  171. 


*xi]    OF  DRS    JOHNSON  AND    WATTS.      17 1 

Pronouns. 

"Had  the  opinion  of  my  censurers  been  unanimous,  it 
might  have  overset  my  resolutions ;  but,  since  I  find  them 
at  variance  with  each  other,  I  can,  without  scruple,  neglect 
them,  and  follow  my  own  imagination." — R.  No.  23. 

You  see  the  Doctor  has,  in  the  last  member  of  his  sen- 
tence, the  censurers  in  his  eye,  and  he  forgets  his  nomina- 
tive, opinion.  It  is  the  opinion  that  was  not  unanimous, 
and  not  the  censurers  who  were  not  unanimous  ;  for,  they 
were  unanimous  in  censuring. 

"  They  that  frequent  the  chambers  of  the  sick  will  gen- 
erally find  the  sharpest  pains,  and  most  stubborn  maladies, 
among  them  whom  [that]  confidence  in  the  force  of  nature 
formerly  betrayed  to  negligence  or  irregularity  ;  and  that 
superfluity  of  strength,  which  was  at  once  their  boast  and 
their  snare,  has  often,  in  the  end,  no  other  effect  than  that 
it  continues  them  long  in  impotence  and  anguish." — R. 
No.  38. 

The  they  and  the  first  them  ought  to  [should]  be  those / 
the  to  ought  to  be  into.  The  two  theirs  and  the  last  them 
are  not  absolutely  faulty,  but  they  do  not  clearly  enough 
relate  to  their  antecedent. 

"  Metissa  brought  with  her  an  old  maid,  recommended 
by  her  mother,  who  taught  her  all  the  arts  of  domestic  man- 
agement, and  was,  on  every  occasion,  her  chief  agent  and 
directress.  They  soon  invented  one  reason  or  other  to  quar- 
rel with  all  my  servants,  and  either  prevailed  on  me  to  turn 
them  away,  or  treated  them  so  ill  that  they  left  me  of  them- 
selves, and  always  supplied  their  places  with  some  brought 
from  my  wife's  family." — R.  No.  35. 

Here  is  perfect  confusion  and  pell-mell !  Which  of  the 
two,  the  old  maid  or  the  ?nother,  was  it  that  taught  the  arts  of 


172  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letter 

domestic  management  ?  And  which  of  the  two  was  taught, 
Metissa  or  the  old  maid?  "  They  soon  invented."  Who 
are  they?  Are  there  two,  or  all  the  three?  And  who  sup- 
plied the  places  of  the  servants  ?  The  meaning  of  the  words 
clearly  is  that  the  servants  themselves  supplied  the  places.  It 
is  very  rarely  [rare]  that  we  meet  with  so  bad  a  sentence 
as  this. 

"  I  shall  not  trouble  you  with  a  history  of  the  stratagems 
practiced  upon  my  judgment,  or  the  allurements  tried  upon 
my  heart,  which,  if  you  have,  in  any  part  of  your  life,  been 
acquainted  with  rural  politics,  you  will  easily  conceive. 
Their  arts  have  no  great  variety,  they  think  nothing  worth 
their  care  but  money." — R.  No.  35. 

"  Their  arts" :  but  whose  arts?  There  is  no  antecedent, 
except  "  rural  politics"  ;  and  thus,  all  this  last  sentence  is 
perfect  nonsense. 

"  But  the  fear  of  not  being  approved  as  just  copiers  of 
human  manners  is  not  the  most  important  concern  that  an 
author  of  this  sort  ought  to  have  before  him." — R.  No.  4. 

An  author  can  not  be  said  to  fear  not  to  be  approved  as 
just  copiers.  The  word  author  ought  to  [should]  have  been 
in  the  plural,  and  him  ought  to  have  been  them. 

"  The  wit,  whose  vivacity  condemns  slower  tongues  to 
silence  ;  the  scholar,  whose  knowledge  allows  no  man  to 
think  he  instructs  him" — R.  No.  188. 

Which  of  the  two  is  allowed  ?  The  scholar  or  the  no 
man  ?  Which  of  the  two  does  he  relate  to  ?  Which  of  the 
two  does  the  him  relate  to  ?  By  a  little  reflection  we  may 
come  at  the  Doctor's  meaning  ;  but,  if  we  may  stop  to  dis- 
cover the  grammatical  meaning  of  an  author's  words,  how  are 
we  to  imbibe  the  science  which  [that]  he  would  teach  us  ? 

*'  The  state  of  the  possessor  of  humbls  virtues,  to  the 


xxi.]     OF  DRS.    JOHNSON  AND    WATTS.      173 

affector  of  great  excellences,  is  that  of  a  small  cottage  of 
stone,  to  the  palace  raised  with  ice  by  the  Empress  of  Rus- 
sia ;  it  was,  for  a  time,  splendid  and  luminous,  but  the  first 
sunshine  melted  it  to  nothing." — R.  No.  22. 

Which,  instead  of  it,  would  have  made  clear  that  which 
[that]  is  now  dubious,  for  it  may  relate  to  cottage  as  well  as 
to  palace  ;  or  it  may  relate  to  state. 

"  The  love  of  retirement  has,  in  all  ages,  adhered  closely 
to  those  minds  which  [that]  have  been  most  enlarged  by 
knowledge,  or  elevated  by  genius.  Those  who  [that]  en- 
joyed everything  generally  supposed  to  confer  happiness, 
have  been  forced  to  seek  it  in  the  shades  of  privacy." — R. 
No.  7. 

To  seek  what  ?  The  love  of  retirement,  or  everything  ? 
The  Doctor  means  happiness,  but  his  words  do  not  mean  it. 

"  Yet  there  is  a  certain  race  of  men  that  make  it  their 
duty  to  hinder  the  reception  of  every  work  of  learning  or 
genius,  who  [  ;  that]  stand  as  sentinels  in  the  avenues  of 
fame,  and  value  themselves  upon  giving  ignorance  and  envy 
the  first  notice  of  a  prey!' — R.  No.  3. 

That,  or  who,  may,  as  we  have  seen,  be  the  relative  of 
a  noun,  which  [that]  is  the  name  of  a  rational  being  or 
beings  ;  but  both  can  not  be  used,  applicable  to  the  same 
noun  in  the  same  sentence.  Nor  is  "  a  prey  "  proper.  Prey 
has  no  plural.  It  is  like  fat,  meat,  grease,  garbage,  and  many 
other  words  of  that  description. 

"  For,  among  all  the  animals  upon  which  nature  has  im- 
pressed deformity  and  horror,  there  was  none  whom  [that] 
he  durst  not  encounter  rather  than  a  beetle." — R.  No.  126. 

Here  are  whom  and  which  used  as  the  relatives  to  the 
same  noun ;  and,  besides,  we  know  that  whom  can,  in  no 
case,  be  a  relative  to  irrational  creatures,  and,  in  this  case, 


174  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letter 

the  author  is  speaking  of  such  creatures  only.  "  Horror"  is 
not  a  thing  that  can  be  impressed  upon  another  thing  so  as  to 
be  seen.  Horror  is  a  feeling  of  the  mind ;  for,  though  we 
say  "  horror  was  visible  on  his  countenance,"  we  clearly  mean 
that  the  outward  signs  of  horror  were  visible.  We  can  not 
see  horror  as  we  can  deformity.  It  should  have  been  "de- 
formity and  hideousness." 

"  To  cull  from  the  mass  of  mankind  those  individuals 
upon  which  the  attention  ought  to  be  most  employed." — 
R.  No.  4. 

The  antecedent  belongs  to  rational  beings,  and,  there- 
fore, the  which  should  have  been  whom. 

"  This  determination  led  me  to  Metissa,  the  daughter  of 
Chrisophilus,  whose  person  was  at  least  without  deformity." 
— R.  No.  35. 

The  person  of  which  of  the  two?  Not  of  the  old  Papa, 
to  be  sure  ;  and  yet  this  is  what  the  words  mean. 

[Not  so.     The  antecedent  is  clearly  Metissa.~\ 

"  To  persuade  them  who  [that]  are  entering  the  world, 
that  all  are  equally  vicious,  is  not  to  awaken  judgment." — 
R.  No.  119. 

Those  persons,  who  [that]  are  entering  the  world,  and 
not  any  particular  persons  of  whom  we  have  already  been 
speaking.  We  can  not  say  them  persons ;  and,  therefore, 
this  sentence  is  incorrect. 

"  Of  these  pretenders  it  is  fit  to  distinguish  those  who 
[that]  endeavor  to  deceive  from  them  who  [that]  are  de- 
ceived."— R.  No.  189. 

"  I  have,  therefore,  given  a  place  to  what  may  not  be  use- 
less to  them  whose  chief  ambition  is  to  please." — R.  No.  34. 

The  thems  in  these  two  sentences  should  be  those.  But, 
tfem  who  are  deceived  has  another  sort  of  error  attached  to 


xxi.]    OF  DRS.    JOHNSON  AND    WATTS.     175 

it,  for  the  who,  remember,  is  not,  of  itself  a  nominative. 
The  antecedent,  as  you  have  seen,  must  be  taken  into  view. 
This  antecedent,  must  be,  the  persons,  understood  ;  and  then 
we  have  them  persons  are  deceived. 

"  Reason,  as  to  the  power  and  principles  of  it,  is  the 
common  gift  of  God  to  man." — L.  Introduction. 

The  it  may  relate  to  power  as  well  as  to  reason.  There- 
fore, it  would  have  been  better  to  say,  "  Reason,  as  to  its 
power  and  principles  "  :  for  if  clearness  is  always  necessary, 
how  necessary  must  it  be  in  the  teaching  of  logic  ! 

"  All  the  prudence  that  any  man  exerts  in  his  common 
concerns  of  life." — L.  Introduction. 

Any  man  means,  here,  the  same  as  men  in  general,  and 
the  concerns  mean  the  concerns  common  to  men  in  gen- 
eral ;  and  therefore  the  article  the  should  have  been  used 
instead  of  the  pronoun  his. 

"  It  gives  pain  to  the  mind  and  memory,  and  exposes  the 
unskillful  hearer  to  mingle  the  superior  and  inferior  particu- 
lars together ;  it  leads  them  into  a  thick  wood  instead  of 
open  daylight,  and  places  them  in  a  labyrinth  instead  of  a 
plain  path." — L.  Part  4,  Chap.  2. 

The  Grammar  is  clearly  bad  ;  and  the  rhetoric  is  nov. 
quite  free  from  fault.  Labyrinth  is  the  opposite  of  plain 
path,  but  open  daylight  is  not  the  opposite  of  a  thick  wood. 
Open  plain  would  have  been  better  than  open  daylight ;  for 
open  daylight  may  exist  along  with  a  thick  wood. 

Verbs. 
"  There  are  many  things  which  [that]  we  every  day  see 
others  unable  to  perform,  and,  perhaps,  have  even  miscar- 
ried ourselves  in  attempting  ;  and  yet  can  hardly  allow  to 
be  difficult." — R.  No.  122. 


176  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letteb 

This  sentence  has  in  it  one  of  the  greatest  of  faults. 
The  nominative  case  of  can  allow  is  not  clear  to  us.  This 
is  a  manner  too  elliptical.  "  We  can  hardly  allow  them"  is 
what  was  meant. 

"  A  man's  eagerness  to  do  that  good,  to  -which  he  is  not 
called,  will  betray  him  into  crimes." — R.  Xo.  8. 

The  man  is  not  called  to  the  good,  but  to  do  the  good. 
It  is  not  my  business,  at  this  time,  to  criticise  the  opinions 
of  Doctor  Johnson  ;  but,  I  can  not  refrain  from  just  remark- 
ing upon  this  sentence,  that  it  contains  the  sum  total  of  pas- 
sive obedience  and  non-resistance.  It  condemns  all  disinter- 
ested zeal  and  everything  worthy  of  the  name  of  patriotism. 

"  We  are  not  compelled  to  toil  through  half  a  folio  to 
be  convinced  that  the  author  has  broke  his  promise." — R. 
No.  i. 

"  The  Muses,  when  they  sung  before  the  throne  of  Ju- 
piter."— R.  Xo.  3. 

In  the  first  of  these,  the  passed  time  is  used  where  the 
passive  participle  ought  to  have  been  used  ;  and  in  the  sec- 
ond, the  passive  participle  is  used  in  the  place  of  the  passed 
time.     Broken  and  sang  were  the  proper  words. 

"  My  purpose  was,  after  ten  months  more  spent  in  com- 
merce, to  have  withdrawn  my  wealth  to  a  safer  country." — - 
R.  Xo.  120. 

The  purpose  was  present,  and  therefore  it  was  his  pur- 
pose to  withdraw  his  wealth. 

"  A  man  may,  by  great  attention,  persuade  others  that 
he  really  has  the  qualities  that  he  presumes  to  boast ;  but 
the  hour  will  come  when  he  should  exert  them,  and  then 
whatever  he  enjoyed  in  praise,  he  must  suffer  in  reproach!' — 
R.  Xo.  20. 

Here  is  a  complete  confounding  of  times.     Instead  ef 


xxi.]     OF  DRS.    JOHNSON  AND    WATTS.     1 77 

should^  it  should  be  ought  to  :  and  instead  of  enjoyed,  it 
should  be  may  have  enjoyed.  The  sense  is  bad,  too  ;  for  how 
can  a  man  suffer  in  i-eproach  what  he  has  enjoyed  in  praise  ? 

"  He  had  taught  himself  to  think  riches  more  valuable 
than  nature  designed  them,  and  to  expect  from  them.  .  .  ." 
— R.  No.  20. 

"  I  could  prudently  adventure  an  inseparable  union." '— 
R.  No.  119. 

"  I  propose  to  endeavor  the  entertainment  of  my  country- 
men."— R.  No.  1. 

"  He  may,  by  attending  the  remarks,  which  [that]  every 
paper  will  produce." — R.  No.  1. 

In  each  of  these  four  sentences,  a  neuter  verb  has  the 
powers  of  an  active  verb  given  to  it.  "  Designed  them  to 
be ;  adventure  on;  endeavor  to  entertain;  attending  to" 
To  design  a  thing  is  to  draw  it  ;  to  attend  a  thing  is  to  wait 
on  it.  No  case  occurs  to  me,  at  present,  wherein  adventure 
and  endeavor  can  be  active  verbs  ;  but,  at  any  rate,  they 
ought  not  to  have  assumed  the  active  office  here. 

"/  was  not  condemned  in  my  youth  to  solitude,  either 
by  indigence  or  deformity,  nor  passed  the  earlier  part  of  life 
without  the  flattery  of  courtship." — R.  No.  119. 

The  verb  can  not  change  from  a.  neuter  to  an  active  with- 
out a  repetition  of  the  nominative.  It  should  have  been, 
nor  did  I  pass  ;  or,  nor  passed  I. 

"  Anthea  was  content  to  call  a  coach,  and  crossed  the 
brook." — R.  No.  34. 

It  should  be  "  she  crossed  the  brook." 

"He  will  be  welcomed  with  ardor,  unless  he  destroys 
those  recommendations  by  his  faults." — R.  No.  160. 

"If  he  thinks  his  own  judgment  not  sufficiently  en« 
lightened,  he  may  rectify  his  opinions." — R.  No.  I. 


1 78  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letter 

"  If 'he  finds,  with  all  his  industry,  and  all  his  artifices, 
that  he  can  not  deserve  regard,  or  can  not  obtain  it,  he  may 
let  the  design  fall." — R.  No.  I. 

The  subjunctive  mode  ought  to  be  used  in  all  these  three 
sentences.  In  the  first,  the  meaning  is,  "  unless  he  should 
destroy."  In  the  two  last,  the  Doctor  is  speaking  of  his 
own  undertaking  :  and,  he  means,  "  the  author,  if  he  should 
think,  if  he  should  find  ;  may  then  rectify  his  opinions  ;  may 
then  let  fall  his  design."  He  therefore  should  have  written, 
"  if  he  think  ;  if  he  find." 

"  Follow  solid  argument  wherever  it  leads  you." — L. 
Part  3. 

Wherever  it  may  lead  you,  shall  lead  you,  is  meant; 
and,  therefore,  the  subjunctive  mode  was  necessary.  It 
should  have  been,  "  wherever  it  lead  you." 

"  See,  therefore,  that  your  general  definitions,  or  de- 
scriptions, are  as  accurate  as  the  nature  of  the  thing  will 
bear  ;  see  that  your  general  divisions  and  distributions  be 
just  and  exact ;  see  that  your  axioms  be  sufficiently  evi- 
dent ;  see  that  your  principles  be  well  drawn." — L.  Part  4. 

All  these  members  are  correct,  except  the  first,  where 
the  verb  is  put  in  the  indicative  mode  instead  of  the  sub- 
junctive. All  the  four  have  the  same  turn  ;  they  are  all  in 
the  same  mode,  or  manner  ;  they  should,  therefore,  all  have 
had  the  verb  in  the  same  form.  They  all  required  the  sub- 
junctive form. 

Participles. 

"  Or,  it  is  the  drawing  a  conclusion,  which  [that]  was 
before  either  unknown,  or  dark." — L.  Introduction. 

It  should  be  "the  drawing  of  a  conclusion  "  ;  for,  in 
this  case,  the  active  participle  becomes  a  noun.  "  The  act 
of  drawing "  is  meant,   and  clearly  understood  ;    and  we 


xxi.]     OF  DRS.    JOHNSON  AND    WATTS.     179 

can  not  say,  "  the  act  drawing  a  conclusion."  When  the 
article  comes  before,  there  must  be  the  preposition  after 
the  participle.  To  omit  the  preposition  in  such  cases  is  an 
error  very  common,  and  therefore  I  have  noticed  the  error 
in  this  instance,  in  order  to  put  you  on  your  guard. 

Adverbs. 

"  For  thoughts  are  only  criminal  when  they  are  first 
chosen,  and  then  voluntarily  continued." — R.  No.  8. 

The  station,  or  place,  of  the  adverb  is  a  great  matter. 
The  Doctor  does  not  mean  here  that  which  [that,  better  : 
what]  his  words  mean.  He  means  that  "  thoughts  are 
criminal,  only  when  they  are  first  chosen  and  then  volun- 
tarily continued."  As  the  words  stand,  they  mean  that 
"thoughts  are  nothing  else,  or  nothing  more,  than  criminal," 
in  the  case  supposed.  But  here  are  other  words  not  very 
properly  used.  I  should  like  to  be  informed  how  a  thought 
can  be  chosen  ;  how  that  is  possible  :  and  also  how  we  can 
continue  a  thought,  or  how  we  can  discontinue  a  thought  at 
our  will.  The  science  here  is  so  very  profound  that  we 
can  not  see  the  bottom  of  it.  Swift  says  :  "  Whatever  is 
dark  is  deep.  Stir  a  puddle,  and  it  is.  deeper  than  a  well." 
Doctor  Johnson  deals  too  much  in  this  kind  of  profundity. 

"  I  have  heard  how  some  critics  have  been  pacified  with 
claret  and  a  supper,  and  others  laid  asleep  with  the  soft 
notes  of  flattery." — R.  No.  1. 

How  means  the  manner  in  which  :  as,  "  How  do  you 
do  ? "  That  is,  ' '  In  what  manner  do  you  carry  yourself 
on?"  But  the  Doctor  tells  us  here,  in  other  words,  the 
precise  manner  in  which  the  critics  were  pacified.  The 
how,  therefore,  should  have  been  that. 

"  I  hope  not  much  to  tire  those  whom  [that]  I  shall  not 
happen  to  please." — R.  No.  1. 


180  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letteb 

He  did  not  mean  that  he  did  not  much  hope,  but  that 
he  hoped  not  to  tire  much.  "  I  hope  I  shall  not  much  tire 
those  whom  [that]  I  may  not  happen  to  please."  This  was 
what  he  meant ;  but  he  does  not  say  it. 

"  And  it  is  a  good  judgment  alone  [only  ?]  can  dictate 
how  far  to  proceed  in  it  and  when  to  stop." — L.  Part  4. 

Doctor  Watts  is  speaking  here  of  writing.  In  such  a 
case  an  adverb,  like  how  far,  expressive  of  longitudinal 
space,  introduces  a  rhetorical  figure ;  for  the  plain  mean- 
ing is,  that  judgment  will  dictate  how  much  to  write  on  it, 
and  not  how  far  to  proceed  in  it.  The  figure,  however,  is 
very  proper,  and  much  better  than  the  literal  words.  But 
when  a  figure  is  begun  it  should  be  carried  on  throughout, 
which  is  not  the  case  here  ;  for  the  Doctor  begins  with  a 
figure  of  longitudinal  space,  and  ends  with  a  figure  of  time. 
It  should  have  been  "  where  to  stop."  Or,  "  how  long  to 
proceed  in  it  and  when  to  stop."  To  tell  a  man  how  far 
he  is  to  go  into  the  Western  countries  of  America,  and 
when  he  is  to  stop,  is  a  very  different  thing  from  telling  him 
how  far  he  is  to  go  and  where  he  is  to  stop.  I  have  dwelt 
thus  on  this  distinction,  for  the  purpose  of  putting  you  on 
the  watch,  and  guarding  you  against  confounding  figures. 
The  less  you  use  them  the  better,  till  you  understand  more 
about  them. 

"  In  searching  out  matters  of  fact  in  times  past  or  in 
distant  places,  in  which  case  moral  evidence  is  sufficient, 
and  moral  certainty  is  the  utmost  that  can  be  attained,  here 
we  derive  a  greater  assurance  of  the  truth  of  it  by  a  num- 
cer  of  persons,  or  multitude  of  circumstances  concurring  to 
bear  witness  to  it." — L.  Part  3. 

The  adverb  here  is  wholly  unnecessary,  and  it  does 
harm.     But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  of  it,  and  the  to  it? 


xxi.]     OF  DRS.    JOHNSON  AND    WATTS.     181 

What  is  the  antecedent  of  the  it?  Is  matters  of  fact  the 
antecedent  ?  Then  them,  and  not  zV,  should  have  been  the 
pronoun.  Is  evidence  the  antecedent  ?  Then  we  have  cir- 
cumstances bearing  witness  to  evidence !  Is  certainty  the 
antecedent?  Then  we  have  the  truth  of  certainty  /  Mind, 
my  dear  James,  this  sentence  is  taken  from  a  treatise  on 
logic  !  How  necessary  is  it,  then,  for  you  to  be  careful  in 
the  use  of  this  powerful  little  word  it! 

Prepositions. 

"  And,  as  this  practice  is  a  commodious  subject  of  rail- 
lery to  the  gay,  and  of  declamation  to  the  serious,  it  has 
been  ridiculed.  .  .  ." — R.  No.  123. 

With  the  gay  ;  for  to  the  gay  means  that  the  raillery  is 
addressed  to  the  gay,  which  was  not  the  author's  meaning. 

14  When  I  was  deliberating  to  what  new  qualifications  I 
should  aspire." — R.  No.  123. 

With  regard  to  it,  it  ought  to  have  been  ;  for  we  can 
not  deliberate  a  thing  nor  to  a  thing. 

"  If  I  am  not  commended  for  the  beauty  cf  my  works, 
I  may  hope  to  be  pardoned  for  their  brevity." — R.  No.  I. 

We  may  commend  him  for  the  beauty  of  his  works  ; 
and  we  may  pardon  him  for  their  brevity,  if  we  deem  the 
brevity  a  fault ;  but  this  is  not  what  he  means.  He  means 
that,  at  any  rate,  he  shall  have  the  merit  of  brevity.  "  If  I 
am  not  commended  for  the  beauty  of  my  works,  I  may  hope 
to  be  pardoned  on  account  of  their  brevity."  This  is  what 
the  Doctor  meant ;  but  this  would  have  marred  a  little  the 
antithesis :  it  would  have  unsettled  a  little  of  the  balance 
of  that  see-saw  in  which  Dr.  Johnson  so  much  delighted, 
and  which  [that],  falling  into  the  hands  of  novel-writers 
and  of  Members  of  Parliament,  has,  by  moving  unencum* 


1 82  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letter 

bered  with  any  of  the  Doctor's  reason  or  sense,  lulled  so  many 
thousands  asleep  !  Dr.  Johnson  created  a  race  of  writers 
and  speakers.  "  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  state  of  the  nation 
is  very  critical,  all  men  must  allow  ;  but,  that  it  is  wholly 
desperate,  few  men  will  believe."  When  you  hear  or  see 
a  sentence  like  this,  be  sure  that  the  person  who  [that] 
speaks  or  writes  it  has  been  reading  Dr.  Johnson,  or  some 
of  his  imitators.  But,  observe,  these  imitators  go  no  fur- 
ther than  the  frame  of  the  sentences.  They,  in  general, 
take  special  care  not  to  imitate  the  Doctor  in  knowledge 
and  reasoning. 

I  have  now  lying  on  the  table  before  me  forty-eight 
errors  in  the  use  or  omission  of  Prepositions  by  Doctor 
Watts.  I  will  notice  but  two  of  them  ;  the  first  is  an  error 
of  commission,  the  second  of  omission  : 

"  When  we  would  prove  the  importance  of  any  scrip- 
tural doctrine  or  duty,  the  multitude  of  texts  wherein  it  is 
repeated  and  inculcated  upon  the  reader,  seems  naturally  to 
instruct  us  that  it  is  a  matter  of  greater  importance  than 
other  things  which  [that]  are  but  slightly  or  singly  men- 
tioned in  the  Bible." — L.  Part  3. 

The  words  7-epeated  and  inculcated  both  apply  to  upon  ; 
but  we  can  not  repeat  a  thing  upon  a  reader,  and  the  words 
here  used  mean  this.  When  several  verbs  or  participles 
are  joined  together  by  a  copulative  conjunction,  care  must 
be  taken  that  the  act  described  by  each  verb,  or  participle, 
be  such  as  can  be  performed  by  the  agent,  and  per- 
formed, too,  in  the  manner,  or  for  the  purpose,  or  on  the 
object,  designated  by  the  other  words  of  the  sentence. 

The  other  instance  of  error  in  the  use  of  the  Prepo- 
sition occurs  in  the  very  first  sentence  in  the  Treatise  on 
Logic  : 


xxi.]     OF  DRS.    JOHNSON  AND    WATTS.     i8j 

**  Logic  is  the  art  of  using  reason  well  in  our  inquiries 
after  truth,  and  the  communication  of  it  to  others." — L. 
Introduction. 

The  meaning  of  the  words  is  this:  that  "Logic  is  the 
art  of  using  reason  well  in  our  inquiries  after  truth,  and  ii 
also  the  communication  of  it  to  others."  To  be  sure  we  do 
understand  that  it  means  that  "  Logic  is  the  art  of  using 
reason  well  in  our  inquiries  after  truth,  and  in  the  com- 
munication of  it  to  others  "  ;  but,  surely,  in  a  case  like  this, 
no  room  for  doubt,  or  for  hesitation,  ought  to  [should] 
have  been  left.  Nor  is  "using  reason  well"  a  well-chosen 
phrase.  It  way  mean  treating  it  well:  not  ill-treating  it. 
"  Using  reason  properly,  or  employing  reason  well,"  would 
have  been  better.  For,  observe,  Doctor  Watts  is  here  giv- 
ing a  definition  of  the  thing  of  which  he  was  about  to  treat : 
and  he  is  speaking  to  persons  unacquainted  with  that  thing : 
for  as  to  those  acquainted  with  it,  no  definition  was  wanted. 
Clearness,  everywhere  desirable,  was  here  absolutely  neces- 
sary. 

Conjunctions. 

"  As,  notwithstanding  all  that  wit,  or  malice,  or  pride, 
or  prudence,  will  be  able  to  suggest,  men  and  women 
must,  at  last,  pass  their  lives  together,  I  have  never,  there- 
fore, thought  those  writers  friends  to  human  happiness  who 
[that]  endeavor  to  excite  in  either  sex  a  general  contempt 
or  suspicion  of  the  other." — R.  No.  149. 

The  as  is  unnecessary  ;  or  the  therefore  is  unnecessary. 

"  But  the  happy  historian  has  no  other  labor  than  of  gath- 
ering what  tradition  pours  down  before  him." — R.  No.  122. 

"  Some  have  advanced,  without  due  attention  to  the 
consequences  of  this  notion,  that  certain  virtues  have  their 
correspondent  faults,  and  therefore  to  exhibit  either  apart 
is  to  deviate  from  probability." — R.  No.  4. 


1 84  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letter 

"  But  if  the  power  of  example  is  so  great  as  take  pos- 
session of  the  memory  by  a  kind  of  violence,  care  ought  to 
be  taken  that,  when  the  choice  is  unrestrained,  the  best 
examples  only  should  be  exhibited  ;  and  that  which  [that] 
is  likely  to  operate  so  strongly  should  not  be  mischievous  or 
uncertain  in  its  effects." — R.  No.  4. 

It  should  have  been,  in  the  first  of  these  extracts,  "  than 
that  of  gathering  "  ;  in  the  second,  "  and  that  therefore  "  ;  in 
the  third,  "  and  that  that  which  [that]  is  likely."  If  the 
Doctor  wished  to  avoid  putting  two  thats  close  together,  he 
should  have  chosen  another  form  for  his  sentence.  The 
that  which  is  a  relative,  and  the  conjunction  that  was  re- 
quired to  go  before  it. 

[The  that  is  a  demonstrative,  and  the  which  is  a  relative. 
The  clause,  with  the  ellipsis  supplied,  is:  "And  that  that 
thing  which  (properly,  that)  is  likely."] 

11  It  is,  therefore,  an  [a]  useful  thing  when  we  have  a 
fundamental  truth,  we  use  the  synthetic  method  to  explain 
it."— L.  Part  4. 

It  should  have  been  that  we  use. 

Wrong  Placing  of  Words. 
Of  all  the  faults  to  be  found  in  writing,  this  is  one  of 
the  most  common,  and  perhaps  it  leads  to  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  misconceptions.  All  the  words  may  be  the  proper 
words  to  be  used  upon  the  occasion  ;  and  yet,  by  a  misplac- 
ingof  a  part  of  them,  the  meaning  may  be  wholly  destroyed  ; 
and  even  made  to  be  the  contrary  of  what  it  ought  to  be. 

"  I  asked  the  question  with  no  other  intention  than  to  set 
the  gentleman  free  from  the  necessity  of  silence,  and  give 
him  an  opportunity  of  mingling  [to  mingle  ?]  on  equal  terms 
with  a  polite  assembly,   from  which,  however  uneasy,  he 


xxi.]     OF  DRS.    JOHNSON  AND    WA  TTS.     185 

could  not  then  escape  by  a  kind  introduction  of  the  only  sub- 
ject  on  which  I  believed  him  to  be  able  to  speak  with  pro- 
priety."— R.  No.  126. 

This  is  a  very  bad  sentence  altogether.  "  However  un- 
easy" applies  to  assembly,  and  not  to  gentleman.  Only  ob- 
serve how  easily  this  might  have  been  avoided.  "  From 
which  he,  however  uneasy,  could  not  then  escape."  After 
this  we  have  "  he  could  not  then  escape,  by  a  kind  introduc- 
tion." We  know  what  is  meant ;  but  the  Doctor,  with  all 
his  commas,  leaves  the  sentence  confused.  Let  us  see 
whether  we  can  not  make  it  clear.  "  I  asked  the  question 
with  no  other  intention  than,  by  a  kind  introduction  of  the 
only  subject  on  which  I  believed  him  to  be  able  to  speak 
with  propriety,  to  set  the  gentleman  free  from  the  necessity 
of  silence,  and  to  give  him  an  opportunity  of  mingling  on 
equal  terms  with  a  polite  assembly,  from  which  he,  however 
uneasy,  could  not  then  escape." 

"  Reason  is  the  glory  of  human  nature,  and  one  of  the 
chief  eminences  whereby  we  are  raised  above  our  fellow- 
creatures,  the  brutes,  in  this  lower  world." — L.  Introduc- 
tion. 

I  have  before  showed  an  error  in  the  first  sentence  of 
Doctor  Watts's  work.  This  is  the  second  sentence.  The 
words,  "  in  this  lower  world"  are  not  words  misplaced  only  ; 
they  are  wholly  unnecessary,  and  they  do  great  harm ;  for 
they  do  these  two  things :  first,  they  imply  that  there  are 
brutes  in  the  higher  world ;  and,  second,  they  excite  a  doubt, 
whether  we  are  raised  above  those  brutes. 

I  might,  my  dear  James,  greatly  extend  the  number  of 
my  extracts  from  both  these  authors  ;  but  here,  I  trust,  are 
enough.  I  had  noted  down  about  two  hundred  errors  in 
Doctor  Johnson's  Lives  of  the  Poets  ;  but  afterward  per- 
ceiving that  he  had  revised  and  corrected  the  Rambler  with 


l86  SPECIMENS  OF  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  [letter 

extraordinary  care,  I  chose  to  make  my  extracts  from  that 
work  rather  than  from  the  Lives  of  the  Poets. 

Double-negative  and  Ellipsis. 

Before  I  dismiss  the  specimens  of  bad  Grammar,  I  will 
just  take,  from  Tull,  a  sentence  which  [that]  contains  strik- 
ing instances  of  the  misapplication  of  Negatives,  and  of  the 
Ellipsis.  In  our  language  two  negatives  applied  to  the  same 
verb,  or  to  the  same  words  of  any  sort,  amount  to  an  affirm- 
ative :  as,  "  Do  not  give  him  none  of  your  money."  That 
is  to  say,  "  Give  him  some  of  your  money,"  though  the  con- 
trary is  meant.  It  should  be,  "  Do  not  give  him  any  of  your 
money."  Errors,  as  to  this  matter,  occur  most  frequently 
when  the  sentence  is  formed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  lead 
the  writer  out  of  sight  and  out  of  sound  of  the  first  negative 
before  he  comes  to  the  point  where  he  thinks  a  second  is  re- 
quired :  as,  "  Neither  Richard  nor  Peter,  as  I  have  been  in- 
formed, and  indeed  as  it  has  been  proved  to  me,  never  gave 
James  authority  to  write  to  me."  You  see  it  ought  to  be 
ever.  But  in  this  case,  as  in  most  others,  there  requires 
nothing  more  than  a  little  thought.  You  see  clearly  that 
two  negatives,  applied  to  the  same  verb,  destroy  the  nega- 
tive effect  of  each  other.  "  I  will  not  never  write."  This 
is  the  contrary  of  "  I  will  never  write." 

The  Ellipsis,  of  which  I  spoke  in  Letter  XIX,  paragraph 
227,  ought  to  be  used  with  great  care.  Read  that  paragraph 
again  ;  and  then  attend  to  the  following  sentence  of  Mr. 
Tull,  which  I  select  in  order  to  show  you  that  very  fine 
thoughts  may  be  greatly  marred  by  a  too  free  use  of  the  El- 
lipsis. 

"  It  is  strange  that  no  author  should  never  have  written 
fully  of  the  fabric  of  plows  !  Men  of  greatest  learning 
have  spent  their  time  in  contriving  instruments  to  measure 


XXII.]      ERRORS  IN  A   KING'S  SPEECH.        187 

the  immense  distance  of  the  stars,  and  in.  finding  out  the 
dimensions  and  even  weight  of  the  planets.  They  think  it 
more  eligible  to  study  the  art  of  plowing  the  sea  with 
ships  than  of  tilling  the  land  with  plows.  They  bestow 
the  utmost  of  their  skill,  learnedly  to  pervert  the  natural  use 
of  all  the  elements  for  destruction  of  their  own  species  by 
the  bloody  art  of  war  :  and  some  waste  their  whole  lives  in 
studying  how  to  arm  death  with  new  engines  of  horror,  and 
inventing  an  infinite  variety  of  slaughter  ;  but  think  it  be- 
neath men  of  learning  (who  only  are  capable  of  doing  it) 
to  employ  their  learned  labors  in  the  invention  of  new,  or 
even  improving  the.  old,  instruments  for  increasing  of  bread.'' 
You  see  the  never  ought  to  be  ever.  You  see  that  the 
the  is  left  out  before  the  word  greatest,  and  again  before 
weight,  and,  in  this  last-mentioned  instance,  the  leaving  of 
it  out  makes  the  words  mean  the  '  even  weight "  ;  that  is  to 
say,  not  the  odd  weight  ;  instead  of  "  even  the  weight,"  as 
the  author  meant.  The  conjunction  that  is  left  out  before 
"  of  tilling "  ;  before  destruction,  the  article  the  is  again 
omitted  ;  in  is  left  out  before  inventing,  and  also  before  im- 
proving ;  and,  at  the  close,  the  is  left  out  before  increasing. 
To  see  so  fine  a  sentence  marred  in  this  way  is,  I  hope,  quite 
enough  to  guard  you  against  the  frequent  commission  of 
similar  errors. 


LETTER   XXII. 

errors  and  .nonsense  in  a  king's  speech. 

My  dear  James: 

In  my  first  Letter  I  observed  to  you  that  to  the  func- 
tions of  Statesmen  and  Legislators  was  [is]  due  the  highest 
respect  which  [that]  could  [can]  be  shown  by  man  to  any 


1 88  ERRORS  AND  NONSENSE       [letter 

thing  human  ;  but  I,  at  the  same  time,  observed  that,  as 
the  degree  and  quality  of  our  respect  rose  [rise]  in  propor- 
tion to  the  influence  which  [that]  the  different  branches 
of  knowledge  naturally  had  [have]  in  the  affairs  and  on 
the  conditions  of  men,  so,  in  cases  of  imperfection  in 
knowledge,  or  of  negligence  in  the  application  of  it,  or 
of  its  perversion  to  bad  purposes,  all  the  feelings  op- 
posite to  that  of  respect,  rose  [rise]  in  the  same  propor- 
tion ;  and  to  one  of  these  cases  I  have  now  to  direct  your 
attention. 

[What  is  true  at  all  times  should  always  be  expressed 
in  the  present  tense.] 

The  Speeches  of  the  King  are  read  by  him  to  the  Par- 
liament. They  are  composed  by  his  Ministers,  or  select 
Councilors.  They  are  documents  of  great  importance, 
treating  of  none  but  weighty  matters  ;  they  are  always 
styled  Most  Gracious,  and  are  heard  and  answered  with  the 
most  profound  respect. 

The  persons  who  [that]  settle  upon  what  shall  be  the 
topics  of  these  Speeches,  and  who  [that]  draw  the  Speeches 
up,  are,  a  Lord  High  Chancellor,  a  First  Lord  of  the 
Treasury,  a  Lord  President  of  the  Council,  three  Secre- 
taries of  State,  a  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  a  Master 
General  of  the  Ordnance,  a  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
and  perhaps  one  or  two  besides.  These  persons  are  called, 
when  spoken  of  in  a  body,  the  Ministry.  They  are  alj 
Members  of  the  King's  constitutional  Council,  called  the 
Privy  Council,  without  whose  assent  the  King  can  issue  no 
proclamation  nor  any  order  affecting  the  people.  This 
Council,  Judge  Blackstone,  taking  the  words  of  Coke,  calls 
wa  noble,  honorable,  and  reverend  assembly."  So  that,  in 
the  Ministry,  who  are  selected  from  the  persons  who  [that] 
compose   this   assembly,  the  nation  has  a  right  to  expect 


xxii.]  IN  A   KINGS   SPEECH.  1 89 

something  very  near  to  perfection  in  point  of  judgment  and 
of  practical  talent. 

How  destitute  of  judgment  and  of  practical  talent  these 
persons  have  been,  in  the  capacity  of  Statesmen  and  of 
Legislators,  the  present  miserable  and  perilous  state  of 
England  amply  demonstrates  ;  and  I  am  now  about  to  show 
you  that  they  are  equally  destitute  in  the  capacity  of  writ- 
ers.    There  is  some  poet  who  [that]  says  : 

11  Of  all  the  arts  in  which  the  learned  excel, 
The  first  in  rank  is  that  of  writing  well."  * 

And  though  a  man  may  possess  great  knowledge,  as  a 
Statesman  and  as  a  Legislator,  without  being  able  to  per- 
form what  this  poet  would  call  writing  well ;  yet,  surely, 
we  have  a  right  to  expect  in  a  Minister  the  capacity  of 
being  able  to  write  grammatically  ;  the  capacity  of  putting 
his  own  meaning  clearly  down  upon  paper.  But,  in  the 
composing  of  a  King's  Speech  it  is  not  one  man,  but  nine 
men,  whose  judgment  and  practical  talent  are  employed. 
A  King's  Speech  is,  too,  a  very  short  piece  of  writing.  The 
topics  are  all  distinct.  Very  little  is  said  upon  each. 
There  is  no  reasoning.  It  is  all  plain  matter  of  fact,  or  of 
simple  observation.  The  thing  is  done  with  all  the  advan- 
tages of  abundant  time  for  examination  and  re-examina- 
tion. Each  of  the  Ministers  has  a  copy  of  the  Speech  to 
read,  to  examine,  and  to  observe  upon  ;  and  when  no  one 
has  anything  left  to  suggest  in  the  way  of  alteration  or  im- 
provement, the  Speech  is  agreed  to,  and  put  into  the  mouth 
of  the  King. 

Surely,  therefore,  if  in  any  human  effort  perfection  can 

*  This  quotation  should  run  : 

11  Of  all  those  arts  in  which  the  wise  excel, 
Nature's  chief  masterpiece  is  writing  well." 

Sheffield.     Essay  of  Poetry- 


190  ERRORS  AND  NONSENSE        [letter 

be  expected,  we  have  a  right  to  expect  it  in  a  King's  Speech. 
You  shall  now  see,  then,  what  pretty  stuff  is  put  together, 
and  delivered  to  the  Parliament,  under  the  name  of  King's 
Speeches. 

The  Speech  which  [that]  I  am  about  to  examine  is,  in- 
deed, a  Speech  of  the  Regent  ;  *  but  I  might  take  any 
other  of  these  Speeches.  I  chose  this  particular  speech 
because  the  subjects  of  it  are  familiar  in  America  as  well  as 
in  England.  It  was  spoken  on  the  8th  of  November,  1814. 
I  shall  take  a  sentence  at  a  time,  in  order  to  avoid  con- 
fusion : 

"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen,  It  is  with  deep  regret  that 
I  am  again  obliged  to  announce  the  continuance  of  his  Ma- 
jesty's lamented  indisposition." 

Even  in  this  short  sentence  there  is  something  equiv- 
ocal; for  it  may  be  that  the  Prince's  regret  arises  from  his 
being  obliged  to  announce,  and  not  from  the  thing  an- 
nounced. If  he  had  said,  "With  deep  regret  I  announce," 
or,  "  I  announce  with  deep  regret,"  there  would  have  been 
nothing  equivocal.  And,  in  a  composition  like  this,  all 
ought  to  be  as  clear  as  the  pebbled  brook. 

"  It  would  have  given  me  great  satisfaction  to  have  been 
enabled  to  communicate  to  you  the  termination  of  the  war 
between  this  country  and  the  United  States  of  America." 

The  double  compound  times  of  the  verbs,  in  the  first 
part  of  the  sentence,  make  the  words  mean  that  it  would, 
before  the  Pi  ince  came  to  the  House,  have  given  him  great 
satisfaction  to  be  enabled  to  communicate  ;  whereas  he 
meant,  "  It  would  now  have  given  me  great  satisfaction  to 
be  enabled  to  communicate."     In  the  latter  part  of  the  sen- 

*  George  Frederick,  afterward  George  IV,  eldest  son  of  George  III 
and  Queen  Charlotte.  He  was  appointed  regent,  in  consequence  of  his 
father's  mental  incapacity,  in  t8ii. 


XXii.]  IN  A   KING'S  SPEECH.  191 

tence  we  have  a  little  nonsense.  What  does  termination 
mean?  It  means,  in  this  case,  end  or  conclusion;  and 
thus  the  Prince  wished  to  communicate  an  end  to  the  wise 
men  by  whom  he  was  surrounded  ?  To  communicate  is  to 
impart  to  another  anything  we  have  in  our  possession  or 
within  our  power.  And  so,  the  Prince  wished  to  impart 
the  end  to  the  Noble  Lords  and  Honorable  Gentlemen. 
He  might  wish  to  impart,  or  communicate  the  news,  or  the 
intelligence  of  the  end ;  but  he  could  not  communicate  the 
end  itself .  What  should  we  say,  if  some  one  were  to  tell 
us,  that  an  officer  had  arrived,  and  brought  home  the  ter- 
mination of  a  battle  and  carried  it  to  Carlton  House  and 
communicated  it  to  the  Prince  ?  We  should  laugh  at  our 
informant's  ignorance  cf  Grammar,  though  we  should  un- 
derstand what  he  meant.  And  shall  we,  then,  be  so  par- 
tial and  so  unjust  as  to  reverence  in  Kings'  Councilors 
that  which  [that]  we  should  laugh  at  in  one  of  our  neigh- 
bors ?  To  act  thus  would  be,  my  dear  Son,  a  base  aban- 
donment of  our  reason,  which  is,  to  use  the  words  of  Dr. 
Watts,  the  common  gift  of  God  to  man. 

"Although  this  war  originated  in  the  most  unprovoked 
aggression  on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  was  calculated  to  promote  the  designs  of  the 
common  enemy  of  Europe  against  the  rights  and  inde- 
pendence of  all  other  nations,  I  never  have  ceased  to  enter- 
tain a  sincere  desire  to  bring  it  to  a  conclusion  on  just  and 
honorable  terms." 

The  the  most  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  there  had 
been  more  than  one  aggression,  and  that  the  war  originated 
in  the  most  unprovoked  of  them;  whereas  the  Prince's 
meaning  was  that  the  aggression  was  an  unprovoked  one, 
unprovoked  in  the  superlative  degree  ;  and  that,  therefore, 
it  was  a  most  unprovoked  aggression.     The  words  all  other 


192  ERRORS  AND  NONSENSE       [letter 

nations  may  mean  all  nations  except  England ;  or,  all 
nations  out  of  Europe ;  or,  all  nations  other  than  the 
United  States ;  or,  all  nations  except  the  enemy 's  own 
nation.  Guess  you  which  of  these  is  the  meaning :  I  confess 
that  I  am  wholly  unable  to  determine  the  question.  But, 
what  does  the  close  of  the  sentence  mean  when  taken  into 
view  with  the  although  at  the  beginning  ?  Does  the  Prince 
mean  that  he  would  be  justified  in  wanting  to  make  peace 
on  unjust  and  dishonorable  terms  because  the  enemy  had 
been  the  aggressor?  He  might,  indeed,  wish  to  make  it  on 
terms  dishonorable,  and  even  disgraceful,  to  the  enemy  : 
but  could  he  possibly  wish  to  make  it  on  unjust  terms? 
Does  he  mean  that  an  aggression,  however  wicked  and  un- 
provoked, would  give  him  a  right  to  do  injustice?  Yet,  if 
he  do  not  mean  this,  what  does  he  mean  ?  Perhaps  (for 
there  is  no  certainty)  he  may  mean  that  he  wishes  to  bring 
the  war  to  a  conclusion  as  soon  as  he  can  get  just  and 
honorable  terms  from  the  enemy  :  but,  then,  what  is  he  to 
do  with  the  although?  Let  us  try  this.  "  I  am  ready,"  say 
you,  "  to  make  peace,  if  you  7vill  give  me  just  terms,  al- 
though you  are  the  aggressor."  To  be  sure  you  are,  whether 
I  be  the  aggressor  or  not !  All  that  you  can  possibly  have 
the  face  to  ask  of  me  is  justice ;  and,  therefore,  why  do 
you  connect  your  wish  for  peace  with  this  although  ? 
Either  you  mean  that  my  aggression  gives  you  a  right  to 
demand  of  me  more  than  justice,  or  you  talk  nonsense. 
Nor  must  we  overlook  the  word  "government"  which 
[that]  is  introduced  here.  In  the  sentence  before,  the 
Drince  wished  to  communicate  the  end  of  the  war  between 
*  this  country  and  the  United  States  "  ;  but  in  this  sentence 
we  are  at  war  with  "  the  Government  of  the  United  States." 
This  was  a  poor  trick  of  sophistry,  and  as  such  we  will  let 
it  pass,  with  only  observing  that  such  low  trickery  is  not 


xxii.]  IN  A   KING'S  SPEECH.  193 

very  becoming  in  men  selected  from  "  a  noble,  honorable, 
and  reverend  assembly." 

"  I  am  still  engaged  in  negotiations  for  this  purpose." 
That  is,  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  war  to  a  conclu- 
sion. A  very  good  purpose  ;  but  why  still?  He  had  not 
told  his  nobles  and  his  boroughmen  that  he  had  been  en- 
gaged in  negotiations.  Even  this  short,  simple  sentence 
could  not  be  made  without  fault. 

*'  The  success  of  them  must,  however,  depend  on  my 
disposition  being  met  ivith  corresponding  sentiments  on  the 
part  of  the  enemy." 

Now  suppose  I  were  to  say,  "  My  wagon  was  met  with 
Mr.  Tredwell's  coach."  Would  you  not  think  that  some- 
body had  met  the  wagon  and  coach  both  going  together 
the  same  way  ?  To  be  sure  you  would.  But  if  I  were  to  say, 
"  My  wagon  was  met  by  Mr.  Tredwell's  coach,"  you  would 
think  that  they  had  approached  each  other  from  different 
spots.  And,  therefore,  the  Prince  should  have  said,  "  met 
by."  This  sentence,  however,  short  as  it  happily  is,  is  too 
long  to  be  content  with  one  error.  Disposition,  in  this 
sense  of  the  word,  means  state,  or  bent,  or  temper,  of  mind : 
and  the  word  sentiments  means  thoughts^  or  opinions.  So, 
here  we  have  a  temper  of  mind  met  by  thoughts.  Thoughts 
may  correspond  or  agree  with  a  temper  of  mind  ;  but  how 
are  they  to  meet  it?  If  the  Prince  had  said,  "  My  dispo- 
sition being  met  by  a  corresponding  disposition  on  the  part 
of  the  enemy,"  he  would  have  uttered  plain  and  dignified 
language. 

11  The  operations  of  his  Majesty's  forces  by  sea  and  land 
in  the  Chesapeake,  in  the  course  of  the  present  year,  have 
been  attended  with  most  brilliant  and  successful  results." 

Were  there  only  the  bad  placing  of  the  different  mem- 
13 


194  ERRORS  AND  NONSENSE       [letter 

bers  of  this  sentence,  the  fault  would  be  sufficient.  But  we 
do  not  know  whether  the  Prince  means  operations  by  sea  and 
land,  or  forces  by  sea  and  land. 

"  The  flotilla  of  the  enemy  in  the  Patuxent  has  been  de- 
stroyed. The  signal  defeat  of  their  land  forces  enabled  a 
detachment  of  his  Majesty's  army  to  take  possession  of  the 
city  of  Washington  ;  and  the  spirit  of  enterprise  which 
[that]  has  characterized  all  the  movements  in  that  quarter, 
has  produced  on  the  inhabitants  a  deep  and  sensible  impres- 
sion of  the  calamities  of  a  war  in  which  they  have  been  so 
wantonly  involved." 

Enemy  is  not  a  noun  of  multitude,  like  gang,  or  House 
of  Commons,  or  den  of  thieves  ;  and,  therefore,  when  used 
in  the  singular,  must  have  singular  pronouns  and  verbs  to 
agree  with  it.  Their,  in  the  second  of  these  sentences, 
should  have  been  his.  A  sensible  impression  is  an  impres- 
sion felt ;  a  deep  impression  is  one  more  felt.  Therefore  it 
was  "  a  sensible  and  deep  impression."  But,  indeed,  sensi- 
ble had  no  business  there  ;  for,  an  impression  that  is  deep 
must  be  sensible.  What  would  you  think  of  a  man  who 
[that]  should  say,  "  I  have  not  only  been  stabbed,  but  my 
skin  has  been  cut !  "  Why,  you  would  think,  to  be  sure,  that 
he  must  be  a  man  selected  from  the  noble,  honorable,  and 
reverend  assembly  at  Whitehall. 

"  The  expedition  directed  from  Halifax  to  the  Northern 
coast  of  the  United  States  has  terminated  in  a  manner  not 
less  satisfactory" 

Than  what?  The  Prince  has  told  us,  before  this,  of 
nothing  that  has  terminated  satisfactorily.  He  has  talked 
of  a  brilliant  result,  and  of  an  impression  made  on  the  in- 
habitants ;  but  of  no  termination  has  he  talked  ;  nor  has  he 
said  a  word  about  satisfaction.    We  must  always  take  care 


xxii.]  IN  A   KINGS  SPEECH.  195 

how  we  use,  in  one  sentence,  words  which  [that]  refer  to 
anything  said  in  former  sentences. 

"The  successful  course  of  this  operation  has  been  foU 
lowed  by  the  immediate  submission  of  the  extensive  and  im- 
portant district  east  of  the  Penobscot  river  to  his  Majesty's 
arms. " 

This  sentence  is  a  disgrace  even  to  a  Ministry  with  a 
JENKINSON  at  its  head.*  What  do  they  mean  by  a  course 
being  followed  by  a  submission  ?  And  then,  "  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  immediate  submission  "  ?  One  would  think 
that  some  French  emigrant  priest  was  employed  to  write 
this  Speech.  He,  indeed,  would  say,  "  a  ete  suivie  par  la 
soumission  immediate."  But  when  we  make  use  of  any 
word,  like  immediate,  which  carries  us  back  to  the  time  and 
scene  of  action,  we  must  use  the  past  time  of  the  verb,  and 
say,  "  was  followed  by  the  immediate  submission."  That  is 
to  say,  was  then  followed  by  the  then  immediate  ;  and  not 
has  now  been  followed  by  the  then  immediate  submission. 
The  close  of  this  sentence  exhibits  a  fine  instance  of  want 
of  skill  in  the  placing  of  the  parts  of  a  sentence.  Could 
these  noble  and  reverend  persons  find  no  place  but  the  end 
for  "  to  his  Alajesty's  arms  "  ?  There  was,  but  they  could 
not  see  it,  a  place  made  on  purpose,  after  the  word  sub- 
mission. 

It  is  unnecessary,  my  dear  James,  for  me  to  proceed  fur- 
ther with  an  exposure  of  the  bad  Grammar  and  the  non- 
sense of  this  Speech.  There  is  not,  in  the  whole  Speech, 
one  single  sentence  that  is  free  from  error.  Nor  will  you 
be  at  all  surprised  at  this,  if  ever  you  should  hear  those  per- 
sons uttering  their  own  speeches  in  those  places  which  [that], 
when  you  were  a  naughty  little  boy,  you  used  to  call  the 

*  Charles  Jenkinson,  Earl  of  Liverpool,  born  1790,  died  1828.  This 
vas  the  famous  statesman  that  held  the  premiership  from  1812  till  1827. 


196  SENTENCES  AND  FIGURES,      [letter 

3<  Thieves'  Houses!'  If  you  should  ever  hear  them  there, 
stammering  and  repeating  and  putting  forth  their  nonsense, 
your  wonder  will  be,  not  that  they  wrote  a  King's  Speech 
so  badly,  but  that  they  contrived  to  put  upon  paper  sen- 
tences sufficiently  grammatical  to  enable  us  to  guess  at  the 
meaning. 


LETTER   XXIII. 

on  putting  sentences  together,  and  on  figurative 
language. 

My  dear  James  : 

I  have  now  done  with  the  subject  of  Grammar,  which, 
as  you  know,  teaches  us  to  use  words  in  a  proper  manner. 
But  though  you  now,  I  hope,  understand  how  to  avoid  error 
in  the  forming  of  sentences,  I  think  it  right  not  to  conclude 
my  instructions  without  saying  a  few  words  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  adding  sentence  to  sentence,  and  on  the  subject  of 
figurative  language. 

Language  is  made  use  of  for  one  of  three  purposes: 
namely,  to  inform,  to  convince,  or  to  persuade.  The  first, 
requiring  merely  the  talent  of  telling  what  we  know,  is  a 
matter  of  little  difficulty  0  The  second  demands  reasoning. 
The  third,  besides  reasoning,  demands  all  the  aid  that  we 
can  obtain  from  the  use  of  figures  of  speech,  or,  as  they  are 
sometimes  called,  figures  of  rhetoric,  which  last  word  means 
the  power  of  persuasion. 

"Whatever  may  be  the  purpose  for  which  we  use  lan- 
guage, it  seldom  can  happen  that  we  do  not  stand  in  need 
of  more  than  one  sentence  ;  and,  therefore,  others  must  be 
added.  There  is  no  precise  rule,  there  can  be  no  precise 
rule,  with  regard  to  the  manner  of  doing  this.     When  we 


*XIII.]        SENTENCES  AND  FIGURES.  197 

have  said  one  thing,  we  must  add  another  ;  and  so  on,  until 
we  have  said  all  that  we  have  to  say.  But  we  ought  to  take 
care,  and  great  care,  that  if  any  words  in  a  sentence  relate, 
in  any  way,  to  words  that  have  gone  before,  we  make  these 
words  correspond  grammatically  with  those  foregoing  words ; 
an  instance  of  the  want  of  which  care  you  have  seen  in 
Paragraph  178. 

The  order  of  the  matter  will  be,  in  almost  all  cases,  that 
of  your  thoughts.  Sit  down  to  write  what  you  have  thought, 
and  not  to  think  what  you  shall  write.  Use  the  first  words 
that  occur  to  you,  and  never  attempt  to  alter  a  thought ; 
for  that  which  [that]  has  come  of  itself  into  your  mind  is 
likely  to  pass  into  that  of  another  more  readily  and  with 
more  effect  than  anything  which  [that]  you  can,  by  reflec- 
tion, invent.       • 

Never  stop  to  make  choice  of  words.  Put  down  your 
thought  in  words  just  as  they  come.  Follow  the  order 
which  [that]  your  thought  will  point  out :  and  it  will  push 
you  on  to  get  it  upon  the  paper  as  quickly  and  as  clearly  as 
possible. 

[Herein  Cobbett  judges  others  too  much  by  himself. 
Those  whose  diction  is  best  are,  for  the  most  part,  laborious 
writers.  Lord  Brougham,  it  is  said,  not  unfrequently  re- 
wrote his  paragraphs  several  times.  Those  that  are  com- 
pelled to  write  rapidly  seldom  write  really  well.] 

Thoughts  come  much  faster  than  we  can  put  them  upon 
paper.  They  produce  one  another  :  and  this  order  of  their 
coming  is,  in  almost  every  case,  the  best  possible  order  that 
they  can  have  on  paper  ;  yet,  if  you  have  several  in  your 
mind,  rising  above  each  other  [one  another]  in  point  of 
force,  the  most  forcible  will  naturally  come  the  last  upon 
^aper. 

Mr.  Lindley  Murray  gives  rules  about  Ion?  sent'**— 


198  SENTENCES  AND  FIGURES.      [letter 

and  short  sentences,  and  about  a  due  mixture  of  long  and 
short ;  and,  he  also  gives  rules  about  the  letters  that  sen- 
tences should  begin  with,  and  the  syllables  that  they  should 
end  with.  Such  rules  might  be  very  well  if  we  were  to  sing 
our  writing  ;  but  when  the  use  of  writing  is  to  inform,  to 
convince,  or  to  persuade,  what  can  it  have  to  do  with  such 
rules  ? 

There  are  certain  connecting  words  which  [that]  it  is  of 
importance  to  use  properly  :  such  as  therefore,  which  means 
for  that  cause,  for  that  reason.  We  must  take  care,  when 
we  use  such  words,  that  there  is  occasion  for  using  them.  We 
must  take  care  that  when  we  use  but,  or  for,  or  any  other 
connecting  word,  the  sense  of  our  sentences  requires  such 
word  to  be  used  ;  for,  if  such  words  be  improperly  used, 
they  throw  all  into  confusion.  You  have  seen  the  shameful 
effect  of  an  although  in  the  King's  Speech  which  [that]  I 
noticed  in  my  last  Letter.  The  adverbs  when,  then,  while, 
now,  there,  and  some  others,  are  connecting  words,  and  not 
used  in  their  strictly  literal  sense.  For  example :  "  Well, 
then,  I  will  not  do  it."  Then,  in  its  literal  sense,  means, 
at  that  time,  or  in  that  time  :  as,  "  I  was  in  America  then." 
But  "  Well,  then,"  means,  "  Well,  if  that  be  so,"  or  "  let  that 
be  so,"  or  "  in  that  case."  You  have  only  to  accustom  your- 
self a  little  to  reflect  on  the  meaning  of  these  words  :  for 
that  will  soon  teach  you  never  to  employ  them  improperly. 
A  writing,  or  written  discourse,  is  generally  broken  into 
•  paragraphs.  When  a  new  paragraph  should  begin,  the  na- 
/  ture  of  your  thoughts  must  tell  you.  The  propriety  of  it 
'  will  be  pointed  out  to  you  by  the  difference  between  the 
thoughts  that  are  coming  and  those  which  [that]  have  gone 

;;       before.     It  is  impossible  to  frame  rules  for  regulating  such 
divisions.    When  a  man  divides  his  work  into  Parts,  Books, 

V^Chapters,  and  Sections,  he  makes  the  division  according  to 


KXiii.]        SENTENCES  AND  FIGURES.  199 

that  which  [that]  the  matter  has  taken  in  his  mind  ;  and,  \ 
when  he  comes  to  write,  he  has  no  other  guide  for  the  dis-  J 
tribution  of  his  matter  into  sentences  and  paragraphs.        .' 

Never  write  about  any  matter  that  you  do  not  well  un- 
derstand. If  you  clearly  understand  all  about  your  matter, 
you  will  never  want  thoughts,  and  thoughts  instantly  be- 
come words. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  all  faults  in  writing  and  in  speak- 
ing is  this :  the  using  of  many  words  to  say  little.  In  order 
to  guard  yourself  against  this  fault,  inquire  what  is  the  sub- 
stance or  amount  of  what  you  have  said.  Take  a  long  speech 
of  some  talking  Lord,  and  put  down  upon  paper  what  the 
amount  of  it  is.  You  will  most  likely  find  that  the  amount 
is  very  small ;  but,  at  any  rate,  when  you  get  it,  you  will 
then  be  able  to  examine  it,  and  to  tell  what  it  is  worth.  A 
very  few  examinations  of  this  sort  will  so  frighten  you  that 
you  will  be  forever  after  upon  your  guard  against  talking  a 
great  deal  and  saying  little. 

Figurative  language  is  very  fine  when  properly  employed ; 
but,  figures  of  rhetoric  are  edge-tools,  and  two-edged  tools, 
too.  Take  care  how  you  touch  them  !  They  are  called 
figures,  because  they  represent  other  things  than  the  words 
in  their  literal  meaning  stand  for.  For  instance  :  "  The 
tyrants  oppress  and  starve  the  people.  The  people  would 
live  amid  abundance,  if  those  cormorants  did  not  devour 
the  fruit  of  their  labor."  I  shall  only  observe  to  you,  upon 
this  subject,  that,  if  you  use  figures  of  rhetoric,  you  ought 
to  take  care  that  they  do  not  make  nonsense  of  what  you 
say ;  nor  excite  the  ridicule  of  those  to  whom  you  write. 
Mr.  Murray,  in  an  address  to  his  students,  tells  them  "  that 
he  is  about  to  offer  them  some  advice  with  regard  to  their 
future  walks  in  the  paths  of  literature."  Now,  though  a 
man  may  take  a  walk  along  a  path,  a  walk  means  also  the 


200  SENTENCES  AND  FIGURES.      [letter 

ground  laid  out  in  a  certain  shape,  and  such  a  walk  is  wider 
than  a  path.  He,  in  another  part  of  this  address,  tells  them 
that  they  are  in  the  morning  of  life,  and  that  that  is  the 
season  for  exertion.  The  morning,  my  dear  James,  is  not  a 
season.  The  year,  indeed,  has  seasons,  but  the  day  has  none. 
If  he  had  said  the  spring  of  life,  then  he  might  have  added 
the  season  of  exertion.  I  told  you  they  were  edge-tools.  Be- 
ware of  them. 

I  am  now,  my  dear  Son,  arrived  at  the  last  paragraph  of 
my  treatise,  and  I  hope  that,  when  you  arrive  at  it,  you  will 
understand  Grammar  sufficiently  to  enable  you  to  write 
without  committing  frequent  and  glaring  errors.  I  shall 
now  leave  you,  for  about  four  months,  to  read  and  write 
English  ;  to  practice  what  you  have  now  been  taught.  At 
the  end  of  those  four  months  I  shall  have  prepared  a  Gram- 
mar to  teach  you  the  French  Language*  which  language  I 
hope  to  hear  you  speak,  and  to  see  you  write  well,  at  the 
end  of  one  year  from  this  time.  With  English  and  French 
on  your  tongue  and  in  your  pen,  you  have  a  resource  not 
only  greatly  valuable  in  itself,  but  a  resource  that  you  can 
be  deprived  of  by  none  of  those  changes  and  chances  which 
[that]  deprive  men  of  pecuniary  possessions,  and  which 
[that],  in  some  cases,  make  the  purse-proud  man  of  yester- 
day a  crawling  sycophant  to-day.  Health,  without  which 
life  is  not  worth  having,  you  will  hardly  fail  to  secure  by 
early  rising,  exercise,  sobriety,  and  abstemiousness  as  to 
food.  Happiness,  or  misery,  is  in  the  mind.  It  is  the  mind 
that  lives  ;  and  the  length  of  life  ought  to  be  measured  by 
the  number  and  importance  of  our  ideas,  and  not  by  the  num- 
ber of  our  days.  Never,  therefore,  esteem  men  merely  on 
account  of  their  riches  or  their  station.     Respect  goodness, 

*  The  publication  of  Cobbett's  "  French  Grammar,  or  Plain  Direc 
tions  for  the  Learning  of  French,"  took  place  in  1823. 


xxiv.]  SIX  LESSONS. 


201 


find  it  where  you  may.  Honor  talent  wherever  you  behold 
it  unassociated  with  vice  ;  but,  honor  it  most  when  accom- 
panied with  exertion,  and  especially  when  exerted  in  the 
cause  of  truth  and  justice  ;  and,  above  all  things,  hold  it  in 
honor  when  it  steps  forward  to  protect  defenseless  inno- 
cence against  the  attacks  of  powerful  guilt. 


LETTER   XXIV. 


SIX  LESSONS,  INTENDED  TO  PREVENT  STATESMEN  FROM 
USING  FALSE  GRAMMAR,  AND  FROM  WRITING  IN  AN 
AWKWARD   MANNER. 

Harpenden,  Hertfordshire,  June  23,  1822, 
My  dear  James: 

In  my  first  Letter,  I  observed  that  it  was  of  the  greatest 
importance  that  Statesmen,  above  all  others,  should  be  able 
to  imite  well.  It  happens,  however,  but  too  frequently, 
that  that  which  [that]  should  be,  in  this  case  as  well  as  in 
others,  is  not ;  sufficient  proof  of  which  you  will  find  in  the 
remarks  which  [that]  I  am  now  about  to  make.  The  let- 
ter to  Tierney  /*  a  thing  which  [that]  I  foresaw  would  be- 
come of  great  and  lasting  importance ;  a  thing  to  which  I 
knew  I  should  frequently  have  to  recur  with  satisfaction  ;  I 
wrote  on  the  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which,  in  the  year 
1 8 10,  I  was  sentenced  to  be  imprisoned  for  two  years,  to 
pay  a  fine  of  a  thousand  pounds,  and  to  be  held  in  bonds 
of  five  thousand  pounds  for  seven  years,  for  having  publicly, 
and  in  print,  expressed  my  indignation  at  the  flogging  of 

*  George  Tierney,  a  famous  parliamentary  debater  and  political 
writer,  secretary  for  Ireland,  and  president  of  the  Board  of  Control 
during  the  administration  of  Fox  and  Grenville. 


202  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

English  Local-Militia  men  in  the  town  of  Ely,  under  a 
guard  of  German  soldiers.  I  thought  of  this  at  a  time  when 
I  saw  those  events  approaching  which  [that]  I  was  certain 
would,  by  fulfilling  my  predictions,  bring  me  a  compensa- 
tion for  the  unmerited  sufferings  and  insults  heaped  upon 
me  with  so  unsparing  a  hand.  For  writing  the  present 
little  work,  I  select  the  anniversary  of  a  day  which  [that] 
your  excellent  conduct  makes  me  regard  as  among  the  most 
blessed  in  the  calendar.  Who,  but  myself,  can  imagine 
what  I  felt  when  I  left  you  behind  me  at  [in]  New  York ! 
Let  this  tell  my  persecutors  that  you  have  made  me  more 
than  amends  for  all  the  losses,  all  the  fatigue,  all  the  dan- 
gers, and  all  the  anxieties  attending  that  exile  of  which  their 
baseness  and  injustice  were  the  cause. 

The  bad  writing,  on  which  I  am  about  to  remark,  I  do 
not  pretend  to  look  on  as  the  cause  of  the  present  public 
calamities,  or  of  any  part  of  them  ;  but  it  is  a  proof  of  a 
deficiency  in  that  sort  of  talent  which  [that]  appears  to  me 
to  be  necessary  in  men  intrusted  with  great  affairs.  He 
who  [that]  writes  badly  thinks  badly.  Confusedness  in 
words  can  proceed  from  nothing  but  confusedness  in  the 
thoughts  which  [that]  give  rise  to  them.  These  things 
may  be  of  trifling  importance  when  the  actors  move  in 
private  life  ;  but,  when  the  happiness  of  millions  of  men 
is  at  stake,  they  are  of  importance  not  easily  to  be  de- 
scribed.   . 

The  pieces  of  writing  that  I  am  about  to  comment  on  I 
deem  bad  writing,  and,  as  you  will  see,  the  writing  may  be 
bad,  though  there  may  be  no  grammatical  error  in  it.  The 
best  writing  is  that  which  [that]  is  best  calculated  to  secure 
the  object  of  the  writer ;  and  the  worst,  that  which  [that] 
is  the  least  likely  to  effect  that  purpose.  But  it  is  not  in 
this  extended  sense  of  the  words  that  I  am  now  going  to 


xxiv.]  INTRODUCTION.  203 

consider  any  writing.  I  am  merely  about  to  give  specimens 
of  badly-written  papers,  as  a  warning  to  the  Statesmen  of 
the  present  day  ;  and  as  proofs,  in  addition  to  those  which 
[that]  you  have  already  seen,  that  we  ought  not  to  conclude 
that  a  man  has  great  abilities  merely  because  he  receives 
great  sums  of  the  public  money. 

The  specimens,  that  I  shall  give,  consist  of  papers  that 
relate  to  measures  and  events  of  the  very  first  importance. 
The  first  is  the  Speech  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  the  Regent,  at  the  close  of  the  first  Session  of  18 19, 
during  which  Mr.  Peel's,  or  the  Cash-Payment,  Bill  had 
been  passed  ;  *  the  second  is  the  Answer  of  the  Regent  to 
that  Speech  :  the  first  is  the  work  of  the  House  ;  the  sec- 
ond that  of  the  Ministry. 

In  Letter  XXII,  I  gave  the  reasons  why  we  had  a  right 
to  expect  perfection  in  writings  of  this  description.  I  there 
described  the  persons  to  whom  the  business  of  writing 
King's  speeches  belongs.  The  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons  is  to  be  taken  as  the  man  of  the  greatest  talent 
in  that  House.  He  is  called  the  "  First  Commoner  of  Eng- 
land." Figure  to  yourself,  then,  the  King  on  his  throne,  in 
the  House  of  Lords  ;  the  Lords  standing  in  their  robes  ; 
the  Commons  coming  to  the  bar,  with  the  Speaker  at  their 
head,  gorgeously  attired,  with  the  mace  held  beside  him ; 
figure  this  scene  to  yourself,  and  you  will  almost  think  it  se- 
dition and  blasphemy  to  suppose  it  possible  that  the  Speech 
made  to  the  King,  or  that  his  Majesty's  Answer,  both  pre- 
pared and  written  down  long  beforehand,  should  be  anything 
short  of  perfection.  Follow  me,  then,  my  dear  Son,  through 
this  Letter  ;  and  you  will  see  that  we  are  not  to  judge  of 

*  This  was  an  act  for  the  gradual  assumption  of  cash  payments  by 
the  Bank  of  England.  The  notes  of  the  Bank  had  been,  in  1797,  de- 
clared by  law  a  legal  tender,  although  no  longer  convertible  into  coin. 


204  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

men's  talents  by  the  dresses  they  wear,  by  the  offices  they 
fill,  or  [nor]  by  the  power  they  possess. 

After  these  two  Papers  I  shall  take  some  Papers  written 
by  Lord  Castlereagh,  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  by 
the  Marquis  Wellesley.  These  are  three  of  those  persons 
who  [that]  have,  of  late  years,  made  the  greatest  figure  in 
our  affairs  with  foreign  nations.  The  transactions  which 
[that]  have  been  committed  to  their  management  have  been 
such  as  were  hardly  ever  exceeded  in  point  of  magnitude, 
whether  we  look  at  the  transactions  themselves  or  at  their 
natural  consequences.  How  much  more  fit  than  other  men 
they  were  to  be  thus  confided  in  ;  how  much  more  fit  to 
have  the  interest  and  honor  of  a  great  nation  committed  to 
their  hands,  you  will  be  able  to  judge  when  you  shall  have 
read  my  remarks  on  those  of  their  Papers  to  which  I  have 
here  alluded. 

In  the  making  of  my  comments,  I  shall  insert  the  sev- 
eral papers,  a  paragraph  or  two,  or  more,  at  a  time  ;  and  I 
shall  number  the  paragraphs  for  the  purpose  of  more  easy 
reference. 

LESSON   I. 

Remarks  on  the  Speech  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons *  to  the  Prince  Regent,  which  Speech  teas  made  at 
the  close  of  the  first  Session  of  1 8 19,  duiing  -which  Ses- 
sion Peel's  Bill\  was  passed. 

"  May  it  please  your  Royal  Highness  : 

1.  "  We,  his  Majesty's  faithful  Commons  of  the  United  King- 
dom of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  in  Parliament  assembled,  at- 
tend your  Royal  Highness  with  our  concluding  Bill  of  Supply. 

*  The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  at  this  time  was  Charles 
Manners  Sutton,  afterward  Viscount  Canterbury. 
+  Peel's  Bill.     See  note  on  p.  203. 


xxiv.]  SPEAKER'S   SPEECH.  205 

2.  "The  subjects  which  [that]  have  occupied  our  attention 
have  been  more  numerous,  more  various  and  more  important, 
than  are  usually  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  Parliament 
in  the  same  Session." 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  is  meaned  [meant],*  in  Para- 
graph No.  2,  by  the  word  various.  The  Speaker  had  already 
said  that  the  subjects  were  more  numerous,  which  was  quite 
enough  ;  for  they  necessarily  differed  from  each  other  [one 
another],  or  they  were  one  and  the  same  ;  and,  therefore, 
the  word  various  can  in  this  place  have  no  meaning  at  all, 
unless  it  mean  that  the  subjects  were  vai  legated  in  them- 
selves, which  would  be  only  one  degree  above  sheer  non- 
sense. 

Next  comes  the  "  than  are"  without  a  nominative  case. 
Chambermaids,  indeed,  write  in  this  way,  and,  in  such  a 
case,  "  the  dear  unintelligible  scrawl "  is,  as  the  young  rake 
says  in  the  play,  "  ten  thousand  times  more  charming"  than 
correct  writing  ;  but  from  a  Speaker  in  his  robes  we  might 
have  expected  "  than  those  which  [that]  are  usually  sub- 
mitted." 

And  what  does  the  Speaker  mean  by  "  in  the  same  Ses- 
sion "  ?  He  may  mean  "  in  one  and  the  same  Session  "  : 
but  what  business  had  the  word  same  there  at  all  ?  Could 
he  not  have  said,  "  during  one  Session,"  or  "  during  a  single 
Session  "  ? 

3.  "  Upon  many  of  these  subjects  we  have  been  engaged  in 
long  and  unwearied  examinations  ;  but  such  has  been  the  press- 
ure of  other  business,  and  particularly  of  that  which  ordinarily 
belongs  to  a  first  Session  of  Parliament — and  such  the  magni- 
tude and  intricacy  of  many  of  those  inquiries,  that  the  limits  of 
the  present  Session  have  not  allowed  of  bringing  them  to  a 
close." 

There  is  bad  taste,  at  least,  in  using  the  word  examina- 
tions in  one  part  of  the  sentence,  and  the  word  inquiries  in 
*  See  note  to  par.  35. 


206  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

the  other  part,  especially  as  the  pronoun  those  was  used  in 
the  latter  case.  The  verb  "has"  agrees  in  number  with 
the  noun  "pressure"  ;  but  the  Speaker,  notwithstanding  the 
aid  of  his  wig,  was  not  able  to  perceive  that  the  same  verb 
did  not  agree  in  number  with  the  nouns  "  magnitude  and 
intricacy."  Such  has  been  the  pressure,  and  such  havebeen 
the  "  magnitude  and  intricacy." 

4.  "  But,  Sir,  of  those  measures  which  [that]  we  have  com- 
pleted, the  most  prominent,  the  most  important,  and,  as  we 
trust,  in  their  consequences,  the  most  beneficial  to  the  public,  ara 
the  measures  which  [that]  have  grown  out  of  the  consideration 
of  the  present  state  of  the  country — both  in  its  currency  and  its 
finances." 

There  is  not  here  any  positive  error  in  Grammar ;  but 
there  is  something  a  great  deal  worse  ;  namely,  unintelligi- 
ble words.  The  epithet  "prominent "  was  [is]  wholly  unne- 
cessary, and  only  served  [serves]  to  inflate  the  sentence.  It 
would  have  been  prudent  not  to  anticipate  [predict?],  in  so 
marked  a  manner,  beneficial  consequences  from  Peel's  Bill : 
but  what  are  we  to  understand  from  the  latter  part  of  the 
sentence  ?  Here  are  measures  growing  out  of  the  consid- 
eration of  the  state  of  the  country  in  its  currency  and  finances. 
What !  The  state  of  the  country  in  its  currency  ?  Or  is  it 
the  consideration  in  its  currency  ?  And  what  had  the  word 
both  to  do  there  at  all  ?  The  Speaker  meaned  [meant] 
that  the  measures  had  grown  out  of,  or,  which  would  have 
been  much  more  dignified,  had  been  the  result  of  a  consider- 
ation of  the  present  state  of  the  country,  with  regard  to  its 
currency  as  well  as  with  regard  to  its  finances. 

5.  "  Early,  Sir,  in  the  present  Session,  we  instituted  an  in- 
quiry into  the  effects  produced  on  the  exchanges  with  foreign 
countries,  and  the  state  of  the  circulating  medium,  by  the  restric- 
tion on  payments  in  cash  by  the  Bank.  This  inquiry  was  most 
atixiously  and  most  deliberately  conducted,  and  in  its  result  led 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  most  desirable,  quickly,  but  with 


xxiv.]  SPEAKER'S  SPEECH.  207 

due  precautions,  to  return  to  our  ancient  and  healthful  state  of 
currency: — That  whatever  might  have  been  the  expediency  of 
the  Acts  for  the  suspension  of  payments  of  cash  at  the  different 
periods  at  which  they  were  enacted  (and  doubtless  they  were  ex- 
pedient), whilst  the  country  was  involved  in  the  most  expensive 
contest  that  ever  weighed  down  the  finances  of  any  country- 
still  that,  the  necessity  for  the  continuance  of  these  Acts  having 
ceased,  it  became  us  with  as  little  delay  as  possible  (avoiding 
carefully  the  convulsion  of  too  rapid  a  transition)  to  return  to 
our  ancient  system  ;  and  that,  if  at  any  period,  and  under  any 
circumstances,  this  return  could  be  effected  without  national  in- 
convenience, it  was  at  the  present,  when  this  mighty  nation,  with 
a  proud  retrospect  of  the  past,  after  having  made  the  greatest 
efforts,  and  achieved  the  noblest  objects,  was  now  reposing  in  a 
confident,  and,  as  we  fondly  hope,  a  well-founded  expectation  of 
a  sound  and  lasting  peace." 

Here,  at  the  beginning  of  this  long  and  most  confused 
paragraph,  are  two  sentences,  perfect  rivals  in  all  respects  ; 
each  has  37  words  in  it ;  each  has  three  blunders  ;  and  the 
one  is  just  as  obscure  as  the  other.  To  "  institute  "  is  to 
settle,  to  fix,  to  erect,  to  establish  ;  and  not  to  set  about  or 
undertake,  which  was  what  was  done  here.  If  I  were  to 
tell  you  that  I  have  instituted  an  inquiry  into  the  qualities 
of  the  Speaker's  Speech,  you  would,  though  I  am  your  fa- 
ther, be  almost  warranted  in  calling  me  an  egregious  cox- 
comb. But,  what  are  we  to  make  of  the  "  and  the  "  further 
on  ?  Does  the  Speaker  mean  that  they  instituted  (since  he 
will  have  it  so)  an  inquiry  into  the  state  of  the  circulating 
medium,  or  into  the  effects  produced  on  the  circulating  me- 
dium by  the  cash  suspension  ?  I  defy  any  man  living  to  say 
which  of  the  two  is  meaned  [meant]  by  his  words.  And, 
then  we  come  to  "by  the  Bank  "  ;  and  here  the  only  possi- 
ble meaning  of  the  words  is,  that  the  restriction  was  im- 
posed by  the  Bank  ;  whereas  the  Speaker  means  the  restric- 
tion on  payments  made  at  the  Bank.  If  at,  instead  of  byt 
had  happened  to  drop  out  of  the  wig,  this  part  of  the  sen- 
tence would  have  been  free  from  error. 


208  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

As  to  the  second  sentence  in  this  Paragraph,  No.  5,  I 
may  first  observe  on  the  incongruity  of  the  Speaker's  two 
superlative  adverbs.  Anxiously  means  with  inquietude; 
and  deliberately  means  coolly,  slowly,  warily,  and  the  like. 
The  first  implies  a  disturbed,  the  latter  a  tranquil,  state  of 
the  mind  ;  and  a  mixture  of  these  it  was,  it  appears,  that 
produced  Peel's  Bill  ;  this  mixture  it  was  which  [that]  "  in 
its  result,"  LED  to  the  conclusion  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  result 
led  to  the  result ;  result  being  conclusion,  and  conclusion 
being  result.  But  tautology  is,  you  see,  a  favorite  with  this 
son  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  more  proofs  of  which 
you  have  yet  to  witness.  And  why  must  the  king  be  com- 
pelled to  hear  the  phrase  "  healthful  state  of  the  currency," 
threadbare  as  it  had  long  before  been  worn  by  Horner  and 
all  his  tribe  of  coxcombs  of  the  Edinburgh  Review !  *  Would 
not  "  our  ancient  currency  "  have  answered  every  purpose  ? 
And  would  it  not  have  better  become  the  lips  of  a  person 
in  the  high  station  of  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  ? 

The  remaining  part  of  this  paragraph  is  such  a  mass  of 
confusion  that  one  hardly  knows  where  or  how  to  begin 
upon  it.  The  "  that"  after  the  colon  and  the  dash  seems  to 
connect  it  with  what  has  gone  before  ;  and  yet  what  con- 
nection is  there  ?  Immediately  after  this  "  that "  begins  a 
parenthetical  phrase,  which  is  interrupted  by  a  parenthe- 
sis, and  then  the  parenthetical  phrase  goes  on  again  till  it 
comes  to  a  dash,  after  which  you  come  to  the  words  that 
join  themselves  to  the  first  "  that."  These  words  are  "  still 
that"  Then,  on  goes  the  parenthetical  phrase  again  till 
you  come  to  "  it  became  us."    Then  comes  more  parentheti- 

*  The  Edinburgh  Review  was  started  in  October,  1802,  by  a  knot 
of  young  men  living  in  the  northern  metropolis,  the  chief  of  whom  were 
Francis  Jeffrey,  Sydney  Smith,  Francis  Horner,  and  Henry  Brougham. 
The  political  views  advocated  in  its  pages  from  the  first  were  Whig. 


xxiv.]  SPEAKER'S   SPEECH.  209 

cal  matter  and  another  parenthesis  :  and  then  comes  "  to  re- 
turn to  our  ancient  system."  Take  out  all  the  parenthetical 
matter,  and  the  paragraph  will  stand  thus  :  "  That  it  was 
desirable  to  return  to  our  ancient  and  healthful  state  of  cur- 
rency : — that — still  that,  it  became  us  to  return  to  our  an= 
cient  system." 

But  only  think  of  saying  "  whatever  might  have  been 
the  expediency  of  the  acts  "  ;  and  then  to  make  a  paren- 
thesis directly  afterward  for  the  express  purpose  of  posi- 
tively asserting  that  they  "  were  expedient "  /  Only  think 
of  the  necessity  for  the  continuance  of  the  acts  having 
ceased,  and  of  its  being  becoming  in  the  parliament  to  re- 
turn to  cash  payments  as  soon  as  possible,  and  yet  that  a 
convulsion  was  to  be  apprehended  from  a  too  rapid  tran- 
sition :  that  is  to  say,  from  returning  to  cash  payments 
sooner  than  possible  ! 

After  this  comes  a  doubt  whether  the  thing  can  be  done 
at  all ;  for  we  are  told  that  the  parliament,  in  its  wisdom, 
concluded  that,  if  "  at  any  period  this  return  could  be 
effected  without  national  inconvenience,  it  was  at  the  pres- 
ent." And  then  follows  that  piece  of  sublime  nonsense 
about  the  nation's  reposing  in  the  fond  (that  is,  foolish)  hope 
of,  not  only  a  lasting,  but  also  a  sound,  peace.  A  lasting 
peace  would  have  been  enough  for  a  common  man  :  but  the 
son  of  an  Archbishop  must  have  it  sound  as  well  as  lasting, 
or  else  he  would  not  give  a  farthing  for  it. 

6.  "In  considering,  Sir,  the  state  of  our  finances,  and  in 
minutely  comparing  our  income  with  our  expenditure,  it  ap- 
peared to  us  that  the  excess  of  our  income  was  not  fairly  ade~ 
quatefor  the  purposes  to  which  it  was  applicable— the  gradual 
reduction  of  the  national  debt. 

7.  "It  appeared  to  us  that  a  clear  available  surplus  of "at 
least  five  millions  ought  to  be  set  apart  for  that  object. 

8.  "This,  Sir,  has  been  effected  by  the  additional  impo- 
sition of  three  millions  of  taxes." 


2io  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

The  word  "fairly,"  in  Paragraph  No.  6,  is  a  redun- 
dancy: it  is  mere  j/aw^.  "  Adequate /<?>- "  ought  to  be 
"adequate  to";  and  ''applicable"  is  inapplicable  to  the 
case  ;  for  the  money  was  applicable  to  awy  purpose.  It 
should  have  been,  "  the  purpose  (and  not  the  purposes)  for 
which  it  was  intended"  ;  or,  "the  purpose  to  which  it  was 
intended  to  be  applied." 

The  7th  Paragraph  is  a  heap  of  redundant  Treasury- 
slang.  Here  we  have  surplus  ;  that  is  to  say,  an  ^zw-quan- 
tity  ;  but  this  is  not  enough  for  the  Speaker,  who  must  have 
it  clear  also  ;  and  not  only  clear,  but  available  :  and  then 
he  must  have  it  set  apart  into  the  bargain  !  Leave  out  all 
the  words  in  italics,  and  put  purpose  instead  of  object  at 
the  end  ;  and  then  you  have  something  like  common  sense 
as  to  the  words,  but  still  foolish  enough  as  to  the  political 
view  of  the  matter. 

Even  the  8th  Paragraph,  a  simple  sentence  of  fourteen 
words,  could  not  be  free  from  fault.  What  does  the 
Speaker  mean  by  an  "  additional  imposition  "  ?  Did  he 
imagine  that  the  king  would  be  fool  enough  to  believe 
that  the  parliament  had  imposed  three  millions  of  taxes 
without  making  an  addition  to  former  impositions?  How 
was  the  imposition  to  be  other  than  "  additional  "  ?  Why, 
therefore,  cram  in  this  word? 

9.  "Sir,  in  adopting  this  course,  his  Majesty's  faithful  Com- 
mons did  not  conceal  from  themselves  that  they  were  calling 
upon  the  nation  for  a  great  exertion  ;  but  well  knowing  that 
honor,  and  character,  and  independence  have  at  all  times  been 
the  first  and  dearest  objects  of  the  hearts  of  Englishmen,  we 
felt  assured  that  there  was  no  difficulty  that  the  country  would 
not  encounter,  and  no  pressure  to  which  she  would  not  willingly 
and  cheerfully  submit,  to  enable  her  to  maintain,  pure  and  un- 
impaired, that  which  [that]  has  never  yet  been  shaken  or  sul- 
lied—htr  public  credit  and  her  national  good  faith." 

This  is  a  sentence  which  [that]  might  challenge  the 


xxiv.]  SPEAKER'S   SPEECH.  21 1 

world !  Here  is,  in  a  small  compass,  almost  every  fault 
that  writing  can  have.  The  phrase  "  conceal  from  them- 
selves "  is  an  importation  from  France,  and  from  one  of  the 
worst  manufactories  too.  What  is  national  "  honor "  but 
national  "character"  ?  In  what  do  they  differ?  And 
what  had  "  independence  "  to  do  in  a  case  where  the  sub- 
ject was  the  means  of  paying  a  debt?  Here  are  three 
things  named  as  the  "first "  object  of  Englishmen's  hearts. 
Which  was  the  "first"  of  the  three?  Or  were  they  the 
first  three?  To  "feel  assured  "  is  another  French  phrase. 
In  the  former  part  of  the  sentence,  the  Parliament  are  a  they; 
in  the  latter  part  they  are  a  we.  But  it  is  the  figures  of 
rhetoric  which  [that]  are  the  great  beauties  here.  First  it 
is  Englishmen  who  [that]  have  such  a  high  sense  of  honor 
and  character  and  independence.  Next  it  is  the  country. 
And  next  the  country  becomes  a  she  ;  and  in  her  character 
of  female  will  submit  to  any  "pressure  "  to  enable  her  to 
"maintain"  her  purity  :  though  scarcely  anybody  but  the 
sons  of  Archbishops  ever  talks  about  maintaining  purity, 
most  people  thinking  that,  in  such  a  case,  preserving  is  bet- 
ter. Here,  however,  we  have  pure  and  tinimpaired.  Now- 
pure  applies  to  things  liable  to  receive  stains  and  adul* 
terations ;  tinimpaired,  to  things  liable  to  be  undermined 
dilapidated,  demolished,  or  worn  out.  So  th^  Speaker,  in 
order  to  make  sure  of  his  mark,  takes  them  both,  and  says 
that  the  thing  which  [that]  he  is  about  to  name,  "has 
never  yet  been  shaken  or  sullied"  !  But  what  is  this  fine 
thing  after  all  ?  Gad  !  there  are  two  things ;  namely, 
"  public  credit  and  national  good  faith."  So  that,  leaving 
the  word  good  to  go  to  the  long  account  of  redundancy, 
here  is  another  instance  of  vulgarly-false  Grammar  ;  for  the 
two  nouns,  joined  by  the  conjunction,  require  the  verb  have 
instead  of  has. 


212  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

io.  "  Thus,  Sir,  I  have  endeavored  shortly,  and  I  am  aware 
how  imperfectly,  to  notice  the  various  duties  which  [that]  have 
devolved  upon  us,  in  one  of  the  longest  and  most  arduous  ses- 
sions i?i  the  Records  of  Parliament. 

n.  "The  Bill,  Sir,  which  [that]  it  is  my  duty  to  present  to 
your  Royal  Highness,  is  entitled  '  An  Act  for  applying  certain 
moneys  therein  mentioned  for  the  Service  of  the  year  1819,  and 
for  further  appropriating  the  supplies  granted  in  this  Session  of 
Parliament.'  To  which,  with  all  humility,  we  pray  his  Majesty's 
Royal  Assent." 

Even  here,  in  these  commonplace  sentences,  there  must 
be  something  stupidly  illiterate.  The  Speaker  does  not 
mean  that  his  "  endeavor"  was  "shortly"  made,  or  made  in 
a  short  manner ;  but  that  his  notice  was  made  in  a  short 
manner;  and,  therefore,  it  ought  to  have  been,  "  to  notice 
shortly"  if  shortly  it  must  be;  yet  surely  phraseology  less 
groveling  might  have  been  used  on  such  an  occasion.  "  In 
the  longest  session,"  and  "  in  the  records  of  Parliament,"  are 
colloquial,  low,  and  incorrect  into  the  bargain  ;  and  as  for 
"  moneys  "  in  the  last  paragraph,  the  very  sound  of  the  word 
sends  the  mind  to  'Change  Alley,  and  conjures  up  before  it 
all  the  noisy  herd  of  Bulls  and  Bears. 

There  is,  indeed,  one  phrase  in  this  whole  Speech  (that 
in  which  the  Speaker  acknowledges  the  imperfectness  of 
the  manner  in  which  he  has  performed  his  task)  which 
[that]  would  receive  our  approbation  ;  but  the  tenor  of  the 
Speech,  the  at  once  flippant  and  pompous  tone  of  it,  the 
self-conceit  that  is  manifest  from  the  beginning  to  the  end, 
forbid  us  to  give  him  credit  for  sincerity  when  he  confesses 
his  deficiencies,  and  tell  us  that  the  confession  is  one  of 
those  clumsy  traps  so  often  used  with  [in]  the  hope  of  catch* 
ing  unmerited  applause. 


xxiv.]  KING'S  SPEECH.  213 


LESSON    II. 

Remarks  on  the  Speech  which  \that\  the  Prince  Regent  made 
to  the  Parliament  on  the  occasion  when  the  above  Speech 
of  the  Speaker  was  made. 

"My  Lords  and  Gentlemen  : 

12.  "It  is  with  great  regret  that  I  am  again  obliged  to  an- 
nounce to  you  the  continuance  of  his  Majesty's  lamented  indis- 
position. 

13.  "I  can  not  close  this  Session  of  Parliament  without  ex- 
pressing the  satisfaction  that  I  have  derived  from  the  zeal  and 
assiduity  with  which  you  have  applied  yourselves  to  the  several 
important  objects  which  [that]  have  come  under  your  considera- 
tion. 

14.  "Your  patient  and  laborious  investigation  of  the  state  of 
the  circulation  and  currency  of  the  kingdom  demands  my  warm- 
est acknowledgment ;  and  I  entertain  a  confident  expectation 
that  the  measures  adopted,  as  the  result  of  this  inquiry,  will  be 
productive  of  the  most  beneficial  consequences." 

The  phrase  pointed  out  by  italics  in  the  12th  Paragraph 
is  ambiguous ;  and,  as  it  is  wholly  superfluous,  it  has  no 
business  there.  The  13th  Paragraph  (for  a  wonder  !)  is  free 
from  fault ;  but,  in  the  14th,  why  does  the  king  make  two 
of  the  "  circulation  and  currency  "  ?  He  means,  doubtless, 
to  speak  of  the  thing,  or  things,  in  use  as  money.  This  was 
the  currency  ;  and  what,  then,  was  the  "  circulation  "  ?  It 
is  not  only  useless  to  employ  words  in  this  way  ;  it  is  a  great 
deal  worse :  for  it  creates  a  confusion  of  ideas  in  the  mind 
of  the  reader. 

Investigation  and  inquiry  come  nearly  [near]  to  each  other 
in  meaning  ;  but  when  the  word  "  this,"  which  had  a  direct 
application  to  what  had  gone  before,  was  used,  the  word 
investigation  ought  to  [should]  have  followed  it,  and  not 
the  word  inquiry  ;  it  being  always  a  mark  of  great  affecta- 
tion and  of  false  taste,  when  pains  are  taken  to  seek  for 
synonymous  words  in  order  to  avoid  a  repetition  of  sound. 


214  SIX  LESSON'S.  [letter 

The  device  is  seen  through,  and  the  littleness  of  mind  ex- 
posed. 

The  fine  word  "  adopted  "  is  not  nearly  so  good  as  the 
plain  word  taken  would  have  been.  The  Parliament  did 
not  adopt  the  measures  in  question  ;  they  were  their  own ; 
of  their  own  invention  :  and,  if  I  were  here  writing  remarks 
on  the  measures,  instead  of  remarks  on  the  language  in 
which  they  were  spoken  of,  we  might  have  a  hearty  laugh 
at  the  "  confident  expectation  "  which  [that]  the  king  enter- 
tained of  the  "  most  beneficial  consequences  "  of  those  meas- 
ures, which  were  certainly  the  most  foolish  and  mischievous 
ever  taken  by  any  parliament,  or  by  any  legislative  assem- 
bly in  the  world. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Commons: 

15.  "I  thank  you  for  the  supplies  which  [that]  you  have 
granted  for  the  service  of  the  present  year. 

16.  "I  sincerely  regret  that  the  necessity  should  have  existed 
of  making  any  additions  to  the  burdens  of  the  people  ;  but  I 
anticipate  [expect]  the  most  important  permanent  advantages 
from  the  effort  which  [that]  you  have  thus  made  for  meeting  at 
once  all  the  financial  difficulties  of  the  country ;  and  I  derive 
much  satisfactio?i  from  the  belief  that  the  means  which  [that] 
you  have  devised  for  this  purpose  are  calculated  to  press  as 
lightly  on  all  classes  of  the  community  as  could  be  expected 
when  so  great  an  effort  was  to  be  made." 

Nobody,  I  presume,  but  kings,  says,  an  "  effort  for  meet- 
ing." Others  say  that  they  make  an  effort  to  meet.  And 
nobody,  that  I  ever  heard  of  before,  except  bill-brokers, 
talks  about  meeting  money  demands.  One  can  not  help 
admiring  the  satisfaction,  nay,  the  "  much  satisfaction  "  that 
the  King  derived  from  the  belief  that  the  new  taxes  would 
press  as  lightly  as  possible  on  all  classes  of  the  community. 
I  do  not  like  to  call  this  vulgar  nonsense,  because,  though 
written  by  the  Ministers,  it  is  spoken  by  the  King.  But, 
what  is  it?     The  additional  load  must  fall  upon  somebody  j 


xxiv.]  KING'S  SPEECH.  215 

upon  some  class  or  classes ;  and  where,  then,  was  the  sense 
of  expressing  "  muck  satisfaction  "  that  they  would  fall 
lightly  on  all  classes  ?  The  words  "  as  possible"  which  come 
after  lightly,  do  nothing  more  than  make  an  addition  to  the 
confusion  of  ideas. 

"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen  : 

17.  "  I  continue  to  receive  from  Foreign  Powers  the  strong* 
est  assurances  of  their  friendly  disposition  toward  this  country. 

18.  "I  have  observed  with  great  concern  the  attempts  which 
[that]  have  recently  been  made  in  some  of  the  manufacturing 
districts  to  take  advantage  of  circumstances  [that  are  the  result 
of  or  that  are  the  outcome  of,  or  that  are  due  to]  of  local  dis- 
tress, to  excite  a  spirit  of  disaffection  to  [toward]  the  institutions 
and  Government  of  the  Country.  No  object  can  be  nearer  my 
heart  than  to  promote  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  all  classes 
of  his  Majesty's  subjects  ;  but  this  can  not  be  effected  without 
the  maintenance  of  public  order  and  tranquillity. 

19.  "You  may  rely,  therefore,  upon  my  firm  determination 
to  employ,  for  this  purpose,  the  powers  intrusted  to  me  by  law  ; 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that,  on  your  return  to  your  several  coun- 
ties, you  will  use  your  utmost  endeavors,  in  co-operating  with 
the  Magistracy,  to  defeat  the  machinations  of  those  whose  pro- 
jects, if  successful,  could  only  aggravate  the  evils  which  [that] 
it  professed  to  remedy ;  and  who  [that],  under  the  pretense  of 
Reform,  have  really  no  other  object  but  the  subversion  of  our 
happy  Constitution." 

Weak  minds,  feeble  writers  and  speakers,  delight  in  su- 
perlatives. They  have  big  sound  in  them,  and  give  the 
appearance  of  force  ;  but  they  very  often  betray  those  who 
[that]  use  them  into  absurdities.  The  King,  as  in  Para- 
graph No.  17,  might  continue  to  receive  strong  assurances  ; 
but  how  could  he  receive  "  the  strongest "  more  than  once? 

In  the  18th  Paragraph  we  have  "  welfare  and  prosperity." 
I,  for  my  part,  shall  be  content  with  either  (the  two  being 
the  same  thing),  and,  if  I  find,  from  the  acts  of  the  govern- 
ment, reason  to  believe  that  one  is  really  sought  for,  I  shall 
care  little  about  the  other. 

I  am,  however,  I  must  confess,  not  greatly  encouraged 


216  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

to  hope  for  this,  when  I  immediately  afterward  hear  of  a 
" firm  determination"  to  employ  "powers"  the  nature  of 
which  is  but  too  well  understood.  "  Determination  "  can, 
in  Grammar,  receive  no  additional  force  from  having  firm 
placed  before  it ;  but,  in  political  interpretation,  the  use  of 
this  word  can  not  fail  to  be  looked  upon  as  evincing  a  little 
more  of  eagerness  than  one  could  wish  to  see  apparent  in 
such  a  case. 

In  these  speeches,  nouns,  verbs,  adjectives,  and  adverbs, 
generally  go,  like  crows  and  ravens,  in  pairs.  Hence  we 
have,  in  the  18th  Paragraph,  "  the  institutions  and  govern- 
ment "  of  the  country.  Now,  though  there  may  be  institu- 
tions of  the  country  which  [that]  do  not  form  a  part  of  its 
government ;  the  government  is,  at  any  rate,  among  the  coun- 
try's institutions.  If  every  institution  do  not  form  a  part  of 
the  government,  the  government  certainly  forms  a  part  of 
the  institutions.  But,  as  the  old  woman  said  by  her  goose 
and  gander,  these  words  have  been  a  couple  for  so  many, 
many  years,  that  it  would  be  a  sin  to  part  them  just  at  the 
last. 

The  gross  grammatical  errors  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
last  paragraph,  where  the  singular  pronoun  it  represents  the 
plural  noun  projects,  and  the  verb  profess  is  in  the  past  in- 
stead of  the  present  time,  one  can  account  for  only  on  the 
supposition  that  the  idea  of  Reform  had  scared  all  the  pow- 
ers of  thought  from  the  minds  of  the  writers.  This  unhappy 
absence  of  intellect  seems  to  have  continued  to  the  end  of 
the  piece  ;  for  here  we  have  "  no  other  object  but"  instead 
of  no  other  object  than:  and  the  word  "really"  put  into 
the  mouth  of  a  king,  and  on  such  an  occasion,  is  something 
so  very  low  that  we  can  hardly  credit  our  eyes  when  we  be- 
hold  it. 

[Cobbett  sometimes  appears  to  me  to  be  hypercritical, 


xxiv.]  INTR  OD  UC  TION.  2 1 7 

and  sometimes  to  pass  unnoticed  what  should  receive  his 
attention.  "  The  strongest  assurances  "  does  not  seem  to 
me  to  be,  by  a  good  deal,  as  objectionable  as  "  circumstances 
of  local  distress,"  or  as  "  spirit  of  disaffection  to  the  govern- 
ment." Cobbett,  as  we  have  seen,  blunders  occasionally  as 
well  as  the  rest  of  us.  The  study  of  his  verbal  criticisms 
tends  to  make  us  think,  which  is  the  chief  advantage  to  be 
derived  from  them.] 


INTRODUCTION 


To  the  Four  Lessons  on  the  Productions  of  Lord  Castlereagh, 
the  Duke  of  Wellington,  the  Marquis  Wellesley,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester. 

From  the  literary  productions  of  Speakers  and  Ministers 
I  come  to  those  of  Ambassadors,  Secretaries  of  State,  Vice- 
roys, and  Bishops.  In  these  persons,  even  more  fully  per- 
haps than  in  the  former,  we  are  entitled  [have  a  right]  to 
expect  proofs  of  great  capacity  as  writers.  I  shall  give  you 
specimens  from  the  writings  of  four  persons  of  this  descrip- 
tion, and  these  four,  men  who  [that]  have  been  intrusted 
with  the  management  of  affairs  as  important  as  any  that  the 
king  of  this  country  ever  [has]  had  to  commit  [intrust  ?]  to 
the  hands  of  his  servants  ;  I  mean  Lord  Castlereagh,  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  the  Marquis  Wellesley,  and  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester ;  the  first  of  whom  has  been  called  the  great- 
est Statesman,  the  second,  the  greatest  Captain,  the  third, 
the  greatest  Viceroy,  the  fourth,  the  greatest  Tutor,  of  the 
age. 

The  passages  which  [that]  I  shall  first  select  from  the 
writings  of  these  persons,  are  contained  in  State  Papers,  re« 
lating  to  the  Museums  at  Paris. 


2l8  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

And  here,  in  order  that  you  may  be  better  able  to  judge 
of  the  writings  themselves,  I  ought  to  explain  to  you  the 
nature  of  the  matters  to  which  they  relate,  and  the  circum- 
stances under  which  they  were  written.  The  Mtiseums  at 
Paris  contained,  in  the  year  1815,  when  the  King  of  France 
was  escorted  back  to  that  city  by  the  armies  of  the  Allies, 
a  great  many  Statues  and  Pictures,  which  [that]  Napoleon 
had,  in  his  divers  conquests  and  invasions,  taken  from  the 
collections  of  other  countries,  and  carried  to  France.  When, 
therefore,  the  Allies  had,  by  their  armies,  possession  of  Paris, 
at  the  time  just  mentioned,  they  rifled  these  Museums,  and 
took  from  them  what  had,  or  what  they  asserted  had,  be- 
longed to  the  Allies  respectively.  The  French  contended 
that  this  was  unjust,  and  that  it  was  an  act  of  pillage.  They 
said,  that,  in  18 14,  when  the  Allies  were  also  in  possession 
of  the  capital  of  France,  they  put  forward  no  claim  to  the 
things  in  question,  which  were,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
military  booty,  or  prize  ;  and  that  for  the  Allies  to  make 
this  claim  now,  was  not  only  contrary  to  their  own  prece- 
dent of  1814,  but  that  it  was  to  assume  the  character  of  ene~ 
mies  of  France,  directly  in  the  teeth  of  their  own  repeated 
declarations,  in  which  they  had  called  themselves  friends 
and  even  Allies  of  France  ;  and  in  direct  violation  of  their 
solemn  promises  to  commit  against  the  French  nation  no 
act  of  hostility,  and  to  treat  it,  in  all  respects,  as  a  friend. 
The  Allies  had  now,  however,  the  power  in  their  hands ; 
and  the  result  was  the  stripping  of  the  Museums. 

To  characterize  this  act  committed  by  those  who  [that] 
entered  France  under  the  name  of  Allies  of  the  King 
and  of  the  great  body  of  his  people,  and  who  [that]  took 
possession  of  Paris  in  virtue  of  a  convention  which  [that] 
stipulated  for  the  security  of  all  public  property  :  to  charac- 
terize such  an  act  is  unnecessary  ;  but  we  can  not  help  la- 


xxiv.]      LORD   CASTLEREAGH  %S  NOTE.        219 

menting  that  the  Ministers  of  England  were  open  abettors, 
if  not  original  instigators,  in  this  memorable  transaction, 
which,  of  all  the  transactions  of  that  time,  seems  to  have 
created  the  greatest  portion  [?]  of  rancor  in  the  minds  of 
the  people  of  France. 

That  the  English  Ministers  were  the  instigators  appears 
pretty  clearly  [clear]  from  the  seizure  (which  was  by  force  of 
arms)  having  been  immediately  preceded  by  a  paper  (called 
a  note)  delivered  by  Lord  Castlereagh  in  the  name  of  the 
Prince  Regent,  to  the  Ambassadors  of  the  Allies,  which 
paper  was  dated  nth  September,  181 5,  and  from  which 
paper  I  am  now  about  to  give  you  a  specimen  of  the  witt- 
ing of  this  Secretary  of  State. 


LESSON  III. 

Remarks  on  Lord  Castlereagh 's  Note  of  the  lit  A  September, 
181 5,  on  the  Subject  of  the  Museums  at  Paris. 

This  note  set  out  by  saying,  that  representations,  on  the 
subject  of  the  Statues  and  Pictures,  have  been  laid  before 
the  Ambassadors  of  the  Allies,  and  that  the  writer  has 
received  the  commands  of  the  Prince  Regent  to  submit, 
for  the  consideration  of  the  Allies,  that  which  [that]  fol- 
lows. After  some  further  matter,  among  which  we  find 
this  "greatest  Statesman"  talking  of  "the  indulgen- 
ces "  (instead  of  indulgences)  to  which  the  French  had  a 
right  "to  aspire"  (instead  of  to  hope  for);  after  saying 
that  the  purity  of  the  friendship  of  the  Allies  had  been 
"  proved  beyond  a  question  "  by  their  last  year's  conduct, 
and  "still  more"  that  is  to  say,  farther  than  beyond,  by 
their  this  year's  conduct  ;  after  talking  about  the  "sub- 
stantial integrity  "   of  France,  and  thereby  meaning  that 


220  SIX  LESSONS.  [letteu 

she  was  to  be  despoiled  of  only  a  part  of  her  dominions; 
after  talking  about  "combining"  this  "  integrity  with  such 
an  adequate  system  of  temporary  precaution  as  may  sat- 
isfy what  the  Allies  owe  to  the  security  of  their  own  sub- 
jects "  ;  after  all  this,  and  a  great  deal  more  of  the  same 
description,  we  come  to  the  paragraphs  that  I  am  now 
going  to  remark  on.  Observe,  I  continue  the  numboing 
of  the  paragraphs,  as  if  the  whole  of  the  Papers  on  which 
I  am  commenting,  formed  but  one  piece  of  writing. 

20.  "  Upon  what  principle  can  France,  at  the  close  of  such 
a  war,  expect  to  sit  down  with  the  same  extent  of  possessions 
which  [that]  she  held  before  the  Revolution,  and  desire,  at  the 
same  time,  to  retain  the  ornamental  spoils  of  all  other  countries  ? 
Is  it  that  there  can  exist  a  doubt  of  the  issue  of  the  contest,  or  of 
the  power  of  the  Allies  to  effectuate  what  justice  and  policy 
require  ?  If  not,  upon  what  principle  deprive  France  of  her  late 
territorial  acquisitions,  and  preserve  to  her  the  spoliations  apper- 
taining to  those  territories,  which  all  modern  conquerors  have 
invariably  respected,  as  inseparable  from  the  country  to  which 
they  belonged  ? 

21.  "  The  Allied  Sovereigns  have  perhaps  something  to  atone 
for  to  Europe,  in  consequence  of  the  course  pursued  by  them, 
when  at  Paris,  during  the  last  year.  It  is  true,  they  never  did  so 
far  make  themselves  parties  in  the  criminality  of  this  mass  0/ 
plunder  as  to  sanction  it  by  any  stipulation  in  their  Treaties  ; 
such  a  recognition  has  been  on  their  part  uniformly  refused  ;  but 
they  certainly  did  use  their  influence  to  repress  at  that  moment 
any  agitation  of  their  claims,  in  the  hope  that  France,  not  less 
subdued  by  their  generosity  than  by  their  arms,  might  be  disposed 
to  preserve  inviolate  a  peace  which  [that]  had  been  studiously 
framed  to  serve  as  a  bond  of  reconciliation  between  the  Nation 
and  the  King.  They  had  also  reason  to  expect  that  his  Majesty 
would  be  advised  voluntarily  to  restore  a  considerable  p?-opor- 
tion,  at  least,  of  these  spoils,  to  their  lawful  owners. 

22.  ' '  But  the  question  is  a  very  different  one  now,  and  to 
pursue  the  same  course,  under  circumstances  so  essentially 
altered,  would  be,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Prince  Regent, 
equally  unwise  toward  France,  and  unjust  toward  our  Al- 
lies, who  have  a  direct  interest  in  this  question. 

23.  "His  Royal  Highness,  in  stating  this  opinion,  feels  it 
necessary  to  guard  against  the  possibility  of  misrepresentation. 

24.  "  While  he  deems  it  to  be  the  dutv  of  the  Allied  Sover* 


xxiv.]     LORD   CASTLEREAGH'S  NOTE.  221 

eigns  not  only  not  to  obstruct,  but  [to]  facilitate,  upon  the  pres- 
ent occasion,  the  return  of  these  objects  to  the  places  from 
whence  they  were  torn,  it  seems  not  less  consistent  with  their 
delicacy  not  to  suffer  the  position  of  their  armies  in  France,  or 
the  removal  of  these  works  from  the  Louvre,  to  become  the 
means,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  of  bringing  within  their 
own  dominions  a  single  article  which  [that]  did  not  of  right, 
at  the  period  of  their  conquest,  belong  either  to  their  respective 
family  collections,  or  to  the  countries  over  which  they  now  actu- 
ally reign. 

25.  "Whatever  value  the  Prince  Regent  might  attach  to 
such  exquisite  specimens  of  the  fine  arts,  if  otherwise  acquired, 
he  has  no  wish  to  become  possessed  of  them  at  the  expense  of 
France,  or  rather  of  the  countries  to  which  they  of  a  right  [right- 
fully] belong,  more  especially  by  following  up  a  principle  in 
war  which  [that]  he  considers  a  reproach  to  the  nation  by 
which  it  has  been  adopted,  and  so  far  from  wishing  to  take 
advantage  of  the  occasion  to  purchase  from  the  rightful  own- 
ers any  articles  they  might,  from  pecuniary  considerations,  be 
disposed  to  part  with,  His  Royal  Highness  would,  on  the  con- 
trary, be  disposed  rather  to  afford  the  means  of  replacing  them 
in  those  very  temples  and  galleries  of  which  they  were  so  long 
the  ornaments. 

26.  "  Were  it  possible  that  His  Royal  Highness's  sentiments 
toward  the  person  and  cause  of  Louis  XVIII  could  be  brought 
into  doubt,  or  that  the  position  of  His  Most  Christian  Majesty 
was  likely  to  be  injured  in  the  eyes  of  his  own  people,  the 
Prince  Regent  would  not  come  to  this  conclusion  without  the 
most  painful  reluctance  ;  but,  on  ihe  contrary,  His  Royal  High- 
ness believes  that  His  Majesty  will  rise  in  the  love  and  respect 
of  his  own  subjects,  in  proportion  as  he  separates  himself  from 
these  remembrances  of  revolutionary  warfare.  These  spoils, 
which  impede  a  moral  reconciliation  between  France  and  the 
countries  she  has  invaded,  are  not  necessary  to  record  the  exploits 
of  her  armies,  which,  notwithstanding  the  cause  in  which  they 
were  achieved,  must  ever  make  the  arms  of  the  nation  re- 
spected abroad.  But  while  these  objects  remain  at  Paris, 
constituting  as  it  were  the  title-deeds  of  the  countries  which 
[that]  have  been  given  up,  the  sentiments  of  reuniting  these 
countries  again  to  France  will  never  be  altogether  extinct ;  nor 
will  the  genius  of  the  French  people  ever  completely  associate 
itself  with  the  more  limited  existence  assigned  to  the  nation 
under  the  Bourbons." 

I  shall  say  nothing  of  the  logic  of  this  passage  ;  and 
t  would  fain  pass  over  the  real  and  poorly-disguised  mo- 


222  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

five  of  the  proceeding ;  but  this  must  strike  every  ob- 
server. 

It  is  the  mere  writing,  which  [that],  at  present,  is  to  be 
the  principal  object  of  our  attention.  To  be  sure,  the  sen- 
timents, the  very  thoughts,  in  Paragraphs  24  and  25,  which 
speak  the  soul,  as  they  are  conveyed  in  the  language,  of  the 
sedentary  and  circumspect  keeper  of  a  huckster's  stand,  or 
the  more  sturdy  perambulating  bearer  of  a  miscellaneous 
pack,  do,  with  voice  almost  imperious,  demand  a  portion  of 
our  notice  ;  while,  with  equal  force,  a  similar  claim  is  urged 
by  the  suspicions  in  the  former  of  these  paragraphs,  and  the 
protestations  in  the  latter,  which  present  to  the  nations  of 
Europe,  and  especially  to  the  French  nation,  such  a  capti- 
vating picture  of  English  frankness  and  sincerity  ! 

But  let  us  come  to  the  writing :  and  here,  in  Paragraph 
20,  we  have  spoliations  appertaining  to  territories,  though 
spoliation  means  the  act  of  despoiling,  and  never  does  or 
can  mean  the  thing  of  which  one  has  been  despoiled  ;  and 
next,  we  have  the  word  which,  relating  to  spoliation,  and 
then  the  subsequent  part  of  the  sentence  tells  us  that  spolia- 
tions have  invariably  been  respected. 

In  the  2 1st  Paragraph,  does  the  it  relate  to  criminality 
or  to  mass  of  plunder  ?  and  what  is  meaned  [meant]  by  a 
sanction  given  to  either  ?  Could  the  writer  suppose  it  pos- 
sible that  it  was  necessary  to  tell  the  Allies,  themselves, 
that  they  had  not  sanctioned  such  things?  And  here,  if 
we  may,  for  a  moment,  speak  of  the  logic  of  our  "  greatest 
Statesman,"  the  Allies  did  sanction,  not  criminality,  not  a 
mass  of  plunder,  but  the  quiet  possession  of  the  specimens 
of  art,  by  leaving,  in  18 14,  that  possession  as  they  found  it. 
At  the  close  of  this  paragraph,  we  have  a  proportion,  instead 
of  a  part,  an  error  common  enough  with  country  fellows 
when  they  begin  to  talk  fine,  but  one  that  surely  ought  to 


xxiv.]       LORD   CASTLEREAGH'S  NOTE.        223 

be  absent  from  the  most  stately  of  the  productions  of  a  Sec- 
retary of  State. 

"  Unwise  toward  France,  and  unjust  toward  the  Allies," 
and  "  equally  "  too,  is  as  pretty  a  specimen  of  what  is  called 
twattle  as  you  will  find  ;  while  "  the  return  "  of  these  "  ob- 
jects" the  not  purloining  of  a."  single  article,"  the  not  wish- 
ing to  "  take  advantage  "  and  to  "purchase  any  of  the  arti- 
cles that  the  owners  might  wish  to  part  with"  form  as  fine 
an  instance  of  the  powers  of  the  plume  de  crasse,  or  pen  of 
mud,  as  you  will  be  able  to  hunt  out  of  the  history  of  a 
whole  year's  proceedings  at  the  Police  Offices. 

But,  in  Paragraph  24,  we  have  "  their  conquest."  The 
conquest  of  whom  or  what?  That  of  the  Allies,  that  of  their 
dominions,  or  that  of  the  "objects"!  It  is  impossible  to 
answer,  except  by  guess  ;  but  it  comes  out,  at  any  rate,  that 
there  was  a  conquest ;  and  this  "  greatest  Statesman  "  might 
have  perceived  that  this  one  word  was  a  complete  answer 
to  all  his  assertions  about  plunder  and  spoliation  ;  for  that 
which  [that]  is  co7iquered  is  held  of  right ;  and  the  only 
want  of  right  in  the  Allies,  forcibly  to  take  these  "  articles," 
arose  from  their  having  entered  France  as  Allies  of  the  King 
of  France,  and  not  as  enemies  and  conquerors. 

And  what,  in  Paragraph  25,  is  meaned  [meant]  by  "fol- 
lowing up  a  principle  in  war"  ?  The  phrase,  "  follow  up  a 
principle,"  is  low  as  the  dirt ;  it  is  chit-chat,  and  very  unfit 
to  be  used  in  a  writing  of  this  sort.  But,  as  to  the  sense  : 
how  could  the  Regent,  even  if  he  had  purchased  the  pic- 
tures, be  said  to  follow  up  a  principle  "  in  war "  ?  The 
meaning,  doubtless,  was  that  the  Regent  had  no  wish  to 
become  possessed  of  these  things  at  the  expense  of  France, 
or,  rather,  at  the  expense  of  the  countries  to  which  they  be- 
longed, especially  as  he  could  not  thus  gratify  his  taste  for 
the  arts  without  acting  upon  a  principle  which  [that]  the 


224  SIX  LESSOXS.  [letter 

French  had  acted  on  in  war.  This  meaning  might,  indeed, 
be  supposed  to  be  contained  in  the  above  phrase  of  Lord 
Castlereagh  ;  but  in  a  writing  of  this  kind  ought  [should] 
anything  to  be  left  to  szipposition  ? 

The  26th  Paragraph  is  an  assemblage  of  all  that  is  in- 
correct, low,  and  ludicrous.  The  "  was  "  after  Christian 
Majesty  ought  to  [should]  be  could  be,  that  is,  "  were  it  pos- 
sible that  his  position  could  be  likely  to  be  injured  "  ;  and 
not  "  were  it  possible  that  his  position  was  likely  to  be  in- 
jured," which  is  downright  nonsense.  And  then  only  think 
of  an  injured position  ;  and  of  the  King's  position  being  in- 
jured "  in  the  eyes  "  of  his  people  !  "  But,  on  the  contrary** 
On  the  contrary  of  what?  Look  back,  and  see  if  it  be  pos- 
sible to  answer  this  question.  Next  comes  the  intolera- 
ble fustian  of  the  King  "  separating  himself  from  remem- 
brances"';  and  from  this  flight,  down  the  "  greatest  States- 
man "  pitches,  robs  the  attorney's  office,  and  calls  the  Statues 
and  Pictures  "  title-deeds,  as  it  were  "  ;  and  this  "as  it  were  " 
is,  perhaps,  the  choicest  phrase  of  the  whole  passage.  But, 
in  conclusion  (for  it  is  time  to  have  done  with  it),  what  do 
you  say  to  "the  sentiments  of  reuniting  the  countries  to 
France"?  And,  what  do  you  say,  then,  to  the  "genius" 
(that  is,  the  disposition)  "  of  the  French  people  associating 
itself  with  the  limited  existence  assigned  to  the  nation  under 
the  Bourbons  "  ?  What  do  you  say  of  the  man  who  [that] 
could  make  use  of  these  words,  when  his  meaning  was, 
"  that,  as  long  as  these  Statues  and  Pictures  remained  to 
remind  the  French  people  of  the  late  extent  of  the  domin- 
ions of  France,  their  minds  would  not  be  completely  recon- 
ciled to  those  more  narrow  limits,  which  [that]  had  now 
been  prescribed  to  her  "  ?  What  do  you  say  of  the  man 
who,  having  this  plain  proposition  to  state,  could  talk  of  the 
genius  of  the  people  associating  itself  with  the  more  limited 


xxiv.]         WELLINGTON'S  DISPATCH.  225 

existence  of  the  nation,  the  nation  being  the  people ;  and 
therefore  his  meaning,  if  there  be  any  sense  in  the  words, 
being,  that  the  people  as  a  nation  had,  under  the  Bourbons, 
had  their  existence,  or  length  of  life,  abridged  ?  What  do 
you  say,  what  can  you  say  of  such  a  man,  but  that  nature 
might  have  made  him  for  a  valet,  for  a  strolling  player,  and 
possibly,  for  an  auctioneer  ;  but  never  for  a  Secretary  of 
State  !  *  Yet  this  man  was  educated  at  the  University  of 
Cambridge. \ 

LESSON   IV. 

Remarks  on  a  Dispatch  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  {called 
the  greatest  Captain  of  the  Age)  relative  to  the  Museums 
at  Paris. 

Having,  as  far  as  relates  to  the  Museums,  taken  a  suffi- 
cient view  of  the  writing  of  the  greatest  Statesman  of  the 
age,  I  now  come  to  that  of  the  "greatest  Captain."  The 
writing  that  I  am  now  about  to  notice  relates  to  the  same 
subject.  The  Captain  was  one  of  the  Commanders  at  Paris, 
at  the  time  above  spoken  of,  and  it  is  in  that  capacity  that 
he  writes.     Bu>  we  ought  to  observe,  here,  that  he  is  not 

*  This  Statesman,  looked  upon  by  one  party  as  a  paragon  of  perfec- 
tion, has  been  characterized  by  the  other  party  as  "  the  most  intoler- 
able mischief  that  ever  was  cast  by  an  angry  Providence  on  a  helpless 
people." 

+  This  Lesson  was  written  in  June,  1822  On  the  12th  August,  1822, 
this  same  Lord  Castlereagh  (being  still  Secretary  of  State)  killed  himself 
at  North  Cray,  in  Kent,  by  cutting  his  throat.  A  Coroner's  Jury  pro- 
nounced him  to  have  been  insane ;  and,  which  is  very  curious,  a  letter 
from  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  produced  to  prove  that  the  deceased 
had  been  insane  for  some  time.  Though,  mind,  he  had  been  for  some 
time,  and  was  when  he  cut  his  throat,  actually  intrusted  with  the  care 
and  powers  of  the  other  two  Secretaries1  offices  (they  being  absent),  v> 
well  as  those  of  the  office  of  Foreign  Affairs!  —Note  by  Cobbett- 


226  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

only  a  great  Captain,  but  a  great  Ambassador  also  ;  and  that 
he  was  Ambassador  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna  *  just  before 
the  time  we  are  speaking  of  ;  and  that  he  was  formerly  Sec- 
retary of  State  for  Ireland. 

The  paper,  from  which  I  am  about  to  make  a  quotation, 
is  a  "dispatch  "  from  the  "  greatest  Captain  "  to  Lord  Castle* 
reagh,  dated  at  Paris,  23d  September,  1815,  soon  after  the 
Museums  had  been  rifled. 

I  shall  not  take  up  much  of  your  time  with  the  perform- 
ance of  this  gentleman  ;  a  short  specimen  will  suffice  ;  and 
that  shall  consist  of  the  first  three  paragraphs  of  his  "  dis* 
patch." 

"  My  dear  Lord  : 

27.  "  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  discussion  here  lately  re- 
specting the  measures  which  [that]  I  have  been  under  the  neces- 
sity of  adopting,  in  order  to  get  for  the  King  of  the  Netherlands 
his  pictures,  etc.,  from  the  Museums;  and  lest  these  reports 
should  reach  the  Prince  Regent,  I  wish  to  trouble  you,  for  His 
Royal  Highness's  information,  with  the  following  statement  of 
what  has  passed. 

28.  "  Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  Sovereigns  at  Paris,  the 
Minister  of  the  King  of  the  Netherlands  claimed  the  pictures, 
etc.,  belonging  to  his  Sovereign,  equally  with  those  of  other 
powers  ;  and,  as  far  as  I  could  learn,  never  could  get  any  satis- 
factory reply  from  the  French  Government.  After  several  con- 
versations with  me,  he  addressed  your  Lordship  an  official  Note, 
which  was  laid  before  the  Ministers  of  the  Allied  Sovereigns,  as- 
sembled in  conference  ;  and  the  subject  was  taken  into  consider- 
ation repeatedly,  with  a  view  to  discover  a  mode  of  doing  justice 
to  the  Claimants  of  the  specimens  of  the  arts  in  the  Museums, 
without  injuring  the  feelings  of  the  King  of  France.  In  the 
mean  time  the  Prussians  had  obtained  from  His  Majesty  not  only 
all  the  really  Prussian  Pictures,  but  those  belonging  to  the  Prus- 
sian territories  on  the  left  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  Pictures,  etc., 

*  The  Congress  of  Vienna  was  held  in  that  capital  after  the  first 
treaty  of  Paris,  for  the  general  settlement  of  the  affairs  of  Europe.  The 
Congress  first  met  on  the  30th  September,  1814,  Lord  Castlereagh,  and 
afterward  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  acting  as  representatives  of  Great 
Britain. 


xxiv.]         WE  LLING  TON '  S  DISPA  TCH.  227 

belonging  to  all  the  Allies  of  His  Prussian  Majesty;  and  the  sub-1 
ject  pressed  for  an  early  decision  ;  and  your  Lordship  wrote  yout 
note  of  the  nth  inst.,  in  which  it  was  fully  discussed. 

29.  "  The  Ministers  of  the  King  of  the  Netherlands  still  hav» 
ing  no  satisfactory  answer  from  the  French  Government,  ap' 
pealed  to  me,  as  the  General  in  Chief  of  the  army  of  the  King 
of  the  Netherlands,  to  know  whether  I  had  any  objection  to  em- 
ploy His  Majesty's  Troops  to  obtain  possession  of  what  was  his 
undoubted  property.  I  referred  this  application  again  to  the 
Ministers  of  the  Allied  Courts,  and  no  objection  having  been 
stated,  I  considered  it  tny  duty  to  take  the  necessary  measures 
to  obtain  what  was  his  right." 

The  great  characteristic  of  this  writing  (if  writing  it 
ought  to  be  called)  is  the  thorough-paced  vulgarity  of  it. 
There  is  a  meanness  of  manner  as  well  as  of  expression, 
and,  indeed,  a  suitableness  to  the  subject  much  too  natural, 
in  all  its  appearances,  to  have  been  the  effect  of  art. 

The  writer,  though  addressing  a  Minister  of  State,  and 
writing  matter  to  be  laid  before  a  Sovereign,  begins  exactly 
in  the  manner  of  a  quidnunc  talking  to  another  that  he  has 
just  met  in  the  street.  "  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  dis- 
cussion "  (that  is  to  say,  talk)  "  here "  ;  that  is  to  say,  at 
Paris,  Castlereagh  being,  at  the  time,  in  London.  The 
phrase  "  to  get  for"  is  so  very  dignified  that  it  could  have 
come  only  from  a  great  man,  and  could  have  been  inspired 
by  nothing  short  of  the  consciousness  of  being  "  the  Ally  oj 
all  the  nations  of  Europe"  as  the  writer  calls  himself  in  an- 
other part  of  this  famous  "  dispatch!' 

But  what  are  "  these  reports,"  of  which  the  great  Cap- 
tain speaks  in  the  latter  part  of  this  paragraph  ?  He  had 
spoken  of  no  reports  before.  He  had  mentioned  "  discus- 
sion" and  a  "-good  deal"  of  it;  but  had  said  not  a  word 
about  reports  ;  and  these  reports  pop  out  upon  us  like  "  these 
six  men  in  buckram,"  *  in  Falstaff  s  narrative  to  the  Prince. 

*  See  Shakespeare's  Henry  IV  (ist  Part),  Act  ii,  sc.  iv.  Cobbett  is 
Wrong  in   regard   to   the   number.      Falstaff 's  4<  rogues   in   buckram" 


*28  SIX  LESSONS.  Lletter 

The  Captain's  "  wishing  to  trouble  "  Lord  Castlereagh, 
"for  the  Regent's  information"  closes  this  paragraph  in  a 
very  suitable  manner,  and  prepares  the  mind  for  the  next, 
where  the  Regent  would  find  trouble  enough,  if  he  were 
compelled  to  find  out  the  English  of  it.  The  Dutch 
Minister  "  claimed  the.  Pictures  belonging  to  his  Sovereign, 
equally  with  those  of  other  powers ."  What !  did  this  Dutch- 
man claim  the  whole :  those  belonging  to  the  Dutch  Sov- 
ereign and  those  belonging  to  all  the  other  powers  besides  ? 
This,  to  be  sure,  would  have  been  in  the  true  Dutch  style  ; 
but  this  could  hardly  be  the  fact.  If  it  were,  no  wonder 
that  the  Duke  had  learned  that  the  Minister  "  never  could 
get  any  satisfactoyy  reply  "  ;  for  it  must  have  been  a  deal 
indeed  that  would  have  satisfied  him. 

The  phrase  "  he  addressed  your  Lordship  an  official 
Note  "  is  in  the  counting-house  style  ;  and  then  to  say  to 
Lord  Castlereagh,  "  your  Lordship  wrote  your  Note  of  the 
nth  of  September,"  was  so  necessary,  lest  the  latter  should 
imagine  that  somebody  else  had  written  the  note  !  Nor  are 
the  four  ands  in  this  paragraph  to  be  overlooked  :  for  never 
was  this  poor  conjunction  so  worked  before,  except,  per- 
haps, in  some  narrative  of  a  little  girl  to  her  mother. 

The  narrative  is,  in  the  last-quoted  paragraph,  con- 
tinued with  unrelaxed  spirit.  The  Dutch  Minister  can  still 
obtain  no  satisfactory  answer  ;  he  asks  the  Duke  whether 
he  has  any  objection  to  use  force,  and  asserts,  at  the  same 
time,  that  the  goods  in  question  are  his  master's  "  undoubted 
property"  Upon  this  the  Duke  applies  to  the  other  Min- 
isters, and  "  no  objection  having  been  stated"  he  considers 
it  his  duty  to  obtain  "  what  was  his  right"  ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  Dutch  King's  right. 

mounted  from  two  to  four,  then  to  seven,  then  to  nine,  and  at  last  there 
»*ere  eleven  buckram  men  grown  out  of  two. 


xxiv.]    CASTLEREAGH' S  SECOND  NOTE.      229 

Never  was  there  surely  a  parcel  of  words  before  put  to- 
gether by  anybody  in  so  clumsy  a  manner.  In  a  subse- 
quent part  of  the  "dispatch  "  we  have  this  :  "I  added,  that 
I  had  no  instructions  regarding  the  Museum,  nor  no  grounds 
on  which  to  form  a  judgment."  In  another  place  we  ha-\  e 
"  the  King  of  the  Netherlands  Pictures."  In  another  place 
we  have  M  that  the  property"  should  be  returned  to  their 
rightful  owners. 

But,  to  bestow  criticism  on  such  a  shocking  abuse  of 
letters  is  to  disgrace  it :  and  nothing  can  apologize  for  what 
I  have  done  but  the  existence  of  a  general  knowledge  of 
the  fact  that  the  miserable  stuff  that  I  have  quoted,  and  on 
which  I  have  been  remarking,  proceeded  from  the  pen  of  a 
man  who  [that]  has,  on  many  occasions,  had  some  of  the 
most  important  of  the  nation's  affairs  committed  to  his  man- 
agement. There  is  in  the  nonsense  of  Castlereagh  a  fri- 
volity and  a  foppery  that  give  it  a  sort  of  liveliness,  and 
that  now  and  then  elicit  a  smile  ;  but  in  the  productions  of 
his  correspondent  there  is  nothing  to  relieve  ,  all  is  vulgar, 
all  clumsy,  all  dull,  all  torpid  inanity. 

LESSON   Ve 

Remarks  on  a  Note  presented  by  Lord  Castlereagh   to  the 

Ambassadors  of  the  Allies  at  Paris,  in  July,  1815,  rela* 

tive  to  the  Slave  Trade. 

30.  "Viscount  Castlereagh,  his  Britannic  Majesty's 
Principal  Secretary  of  State,  etc. ,  in  reference  to  the  communica- 
tion he  has  made  to  the  Conference  of  the  orders  addressed  to 
the  Admiralty  to  suspend  all  hostilities  against  the  coast  of 
France,  observes,  that  there  is  reason  to  foresee  that  French 
ship-owners  might  be  induced  to  renew  the  Slave  Trade,  under 
the  supposition  of  the  peremptory  and  total  abolition  decreed  by 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  having  ceased  with  his  power  ;  that,  never- 
theless, great  and  powerful  considerations,  arising  from  motives 


23°  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

of  humanity  and  even  regard  for  the  King's  authority,  require 
that  no  time  should  be  lost  to  maintain  in  France  the  entire 
and  immediate  abolition  of  the  Traffic  in  Slaves ;  that  if,  at  the 
time  of  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  the  King's  administration  could 
wish  a  final  but  gradual  stop  should  be  put  to  this  Trade,  in  the 
space  of  five  years,  for  the  purpose  of  affording  the  King  the 
gratification  of  having  consulted,  as  much  as  possible,  the  in- 
terests of  the  French  Proprietors  in  the  Colonies,  now,  that  the 
absolute  prohibition  has  been  ordained,  the  question  assumes 
entirely  a  different  shape,  for  if  the  King  were  to  revoke  the 
said  prohibition,  he  would  give  himself  the  disadvantage  of  au- 
thorizing, in  the  interior  of  France,  the  reproach  which  [that] 
more  than  once  has  been  thrown  out  against  his  former  Govern- 
ment, of  countenancing  reactions,  and,  at  the  same  time,  justi- 
fying, out  of  France,  and  particularly  in  England,  the  belief  of 
a  systematic  opposition  to  liberal  ideas ;  that  accordingly  the 
time  seems  to  have  arrived  when  the  Allies  can  not  hesitate 
formally  to  give  weight  in  France  to  the  immediate  and  entire 
prohibition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  a  prohibition,  the  necessity  of 
which  has  been  acknowledged,  in  principle,  in  the  transactions 
of  the  Congress  at  Vienna." 

Now,  I  put  this  question  to  you  :  Do  you  understand 
what  this  great  Statesman  means  ?  Read  the  Note  three 
times  over,  and  then  say  whether  you  understand  what  he 
ivants?  You  may  guess ;  but  you  can  go  little  further. 
Here  is  a  whole  mass  of  grammatical  errors  ;  but,  it  is  the 
obscurity,  the  unintelligibleness  of  the  Note,  that  I  think 
constitutes  its  greatest  fault.  One  way  of  proving  the  bad- 
ness of  this  writing  is  to  express  the  meaning  of  the  writer 
in  a  clear  manner  ;  thus  : 

"  Lord  Castlereagh  observes  that  there  is  reason  to  ap- 
prehend that  the  French  ship-owners  may  be  induced  to 
renew  the  Slave  Trade,  from  a  supposition  that  the  total 
abolition,  recently  decreed  by  Napoleon,  has  been  nullified 
by  the  cessation  of  his  authority  ;  that  motives  of  humanity 
as  well  as  a  desire  to  promote  the  establishment  of  the 
King's  authority,  suggest  that  no  time  should  be  lost  in 
taking  efficient  measures  to  maintain  the  decree  of  aboli- 
tion ;  that  at  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  Paris,  the  King's 


xxiv.]    CASTLEREAGH'S  SECOND  NOTE.     231 

Ministers  wished  to  abolish  this  trade,  but,  in  order  that 
the  King  might,  as  much  as  possible,  consult  the  interests 
of  the  colonial  proprietors,  those  Ministers  wished  the  ob- 
ject to  be  accomplished  by  degrees  during  the  space  of  five 
years  ;  that  now,  however,  when  the  abolition  has  been 
actually  decreed,  the  matter  assumes  an  entirely  different 
shape,  seeing  that  it  is  not  now  an  abolition,  but  the  re- 
fraining from  revoking  an  abolition,  that  is  proposed  to  be 
suggested  to  the  King  ;  that,  if  the  King  were  to  do  this, 
he  would  warrant  among  his  own  people,  the  injurious  im- 
putation, more  than  once  brought  against  his  former  gov- 
ernment, of  countenancing  the  work  of  undoing  and  over- 
turning, and  would,  at  the  same  time,  confirm  foreign  na- 
tions, and  particularly  the  English,  in  the  belief  that  he  had 
adopted  a  systematic  opposition  to  liberal  principles  and 
views  ;  that,  therefore,  the  interests  of  the  King  not  less 
than  those  of  humanity  seem  to  call  upon  the  Allies  to  give, 
formally  and  without  delay,  the  weight  of  their  influence  in 
favor,  as  far  as  relates  to  France,  of  an  entire  and  imme- 
diate abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  an  abolition,  the  neces- 
sity of  which  has,  in  principle  at  least,  been  acknowledged 
in  the  transactions  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna." 

Now,  as  to  the  several  faulty  expressions  in  the  Note  of 
Castlereagh,  though  I  have  made  great  use  of  italics,  I  have 
not  pointed  out  one  half  of  the  faults.  Who  ever  before 
heard  of  a  reason  to  foresee  a  thing?  He  meaned  [meant] 
reason  to  believe  that  the  thing  would  take  place,  and  as  it 
was  a  thing  to  be  wished  not  to  take  place,  to  apprehend  was 
the  word ;  because  to  apprehend  means  to  think  of  with 
some  degree  of  fear.  Wishing  to-morrow  to  be  a  fine  day, 
what  would  you  think  of  me  if  I  were  to  say  that  I  had 
reason  to  foresee  that  it  would  rain  ?  The  might  is  clearly 
wrong.     If  the  abolition  were  total,  what  had  peremptory  to 


232  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

do  there  ?  Could  it  be  more  than  total?  The  nevertheless 
had  no  business  there.  He  was  about  to  give  reasons  why 
the  abolition-decree  ought  to  be  confirmed  ;  but  he  had 
stated  no  reasons  given  by  anybody  why  it  should  not.  To 
lose  no  time  to  maintain  ;  and  then  the  in  France,  and  then 
the  immediate ;  altogether  here  is  such  a  mass  of  confusion 
that  one  can  not  describe  it.  "  To  maintain  in  France" 
would  lead  one  to  suppose  that  there  was,  or  had  been,  a 
slave  trade  in  France.  The  next  part,  beginning  with  "  that 
if"  sets  all  criticism  at  defiance.  Look  at  the  verbs  could 
wish,  and  should  be  !  Look  at  of  having.  Then  comes 
prohibition  for  abolition,  two  very  different  things.  To  as- 
sume entirely  a  different  shape  is  very  different  from  to  as- 
sume an  entirely  different  shape.  The  latter  is  meaned 
[meant],  and  the  former  is  said.  Then  what  does  the  for 
do  there?  What  consequence  is  he  coming  to?  How  was 
he  going  to  show  that  the  shape  was  different  ?  He  attempts 
to  show  no  such  thing ;  but  falls  to  work  to  foretell  the  evils 
which  [that]  will  fall  on  the  King  of  France  if  he  revoke 
Napoleon's  decree.  And  here,  Goddess  of  Grubb  street, 
do  hear  him  talking  of  the  King  of  France  giving  hi77iself 
the  disadvantage  of  authorizing  reproaches  !  If  the  King's 
conduct  would  justify  people  in  believing  ill  of  him,  why 
should  it  justify  the  English  in  particular?  They  might, 
indeed,  be  more  ready  to  believe  ill  of  him  ;  but  it  could  not 
be  more  just  in  them  than  in  others.  An  opposition  to  ideas 
is  a  pretty  idea  enough  :  and  so  is  the  giving  of  weight  in 
France  to  an  immediate  prohibition  ! 

Never  was  there,  surely,  such  a  piece  of  writing  seen 
before  !  Fifty  years  hence,  no  man  who  [that]  should  read  it, 
would  be  able  to  ascertain  its  meaning.  I  am  able  to  pick  it 
out,  because,  and  only  because,  I  am  acquainted  with  the 
history  of  the  matter  treated  of.     And  yet,  most  momentous 


xxiv.]    CASTLEREAGH'S  SECOND  NOTE.      233 

transactions,  transactions  involving  the  fate  of  millions  of 
human  beings,  have  been  committed  to  the  hands  of  this  man! 

It  is  not  unnecessary  for  me  to  observe  that,  though  I 
have  stated  the  meaning  of  this  note  in  a  way  for  it  to  be 
understood,  I  by  no  means  think,  that  even  in  the  words 
in  which  I  have  expressed  it,  it  was  a  proper  Note  for  the 
occasion.  It  was  false  in  professions  ;  and  it  was,  as  to- 
ward the  King  of  France,  insolent  in  a  high  degree.  Even 
if  it  had  been  just  to  compel  the  King  to  abolish  the  Slave 
Trade,  the  matter  might  have  been  expressed  in  a  less  offen- 
sive manner  ;  and,  at  any  rate,  he  might  have  been  spared 
the  brutal  taunt  that  we  meet  with  toward  the  close  of  this 
matchless  specimen  of  diplomatic  stupidity. 

Hoping  that  this  book  will  outlive  the  recollection  of 
the  transactions  treated  of  by  the  Papers  on  which  I  have 
been  remarking,  it  seems  no  more  than  justice  to  the  par- 
ties to  say  that  the  abolition,  which  [that]  was  thus  extorted, 
had  effect  but  for  a  very  short  time  ;  and  the  French  nation 
never  acknowledged  it  as  binding  ;  that  at  this  moment 
(Jtine,  1822),  complaints  are  made  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons of  the  breach  of  agreement  on  the  part  of  the  French  ; 
that  the  French  have  revived  and  do  carry  on  the  traffic  in 
African  slaves  ;  *  that  our  Ministers  promise  to  make  re- 
monstrance ;  but  that  they  dare  not  talk  of  war ;  and  that 
without  declaring  their  readiness  for  war,  their  remon- 
strances can  have  no  effect. 

*  The  influence  of  Great  Britain  was  strenuously  exerted  at  the  peace 
of  1814  and  1815,  and  afterward  at  the  Congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  to 
obtain  the  concurrence  of  foreign  powers  in  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
The  Duke  of  Wellington,  while  ambassador  at  Paris  in  1814,  used  every 
effort  to  obtain  from  the  restored  government  a  prohibition  of  the  traffic  ; 
but  the  West  Indian  interest,  and  commercial  jealousy  of  England,  frus- 
trated all  his  attempts,  and  Napoleon,  during  the  hundred  days  on  hi* 
return  from  Elba,  first  abolished  the  trade  by  law. 


234  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 


LESSON    VI. 

Remarks  on  passages  in  Dispatches  from  the  Marquis  Wel- 
lesley,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland*  to  Viscount  Sid- 
mouth^  and  to  Mr.  Peel,  Secretaries  of  State ;  %  dated 
Dublin  Castle,  from  ^d  January  to  12th  June,  1822  ;  and 
also  on  the  Charge  of  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  de- 
livered in  July,  1822. 

31.  "  Concluding  that  your  Lordship  had  been  apprised  be- 
fore my  arrival  in  Dublin,  of  every  important  circumstance  re- 
specting the  unhappy  disturbances  which  [that]  have  prevailed 
in  this  country,  I  proceed  to  submit  to  you,  for  his  Majesty's 
consideration,  such  information  as  I  have  received  on  that  sub- 
ject during  the  few  days  that  have  passed  since  my  succession 
to  this  Government. 

32.  "I  propose  to  arrange  this  information  with  reference 
to  each  county  respectively,  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  a  com- 
parison with  such  statements  as  may  already  be  in  your  Lord' 
ship's  possession,  a?id  of  enabling  you  to  form  a  judgment  of  thtf 
relative  state  of  each  particular  district  at  the  different  periods 
of  time  specified  in  each  document.'''' 

The  Marquis's  style  is  not,  in  general,  lon<  and  clumsy  j 
it  has  the  opposite  faults,  affectation  and  foppishness ;  and 
where  the  meaning  of  the  writer  is  obscure,  it  is  not  so  much 
because  he  has  not  a  clear  head  as  because  he  can  not  con- 
descend to  talk  in  the  language  and  manner  of  common 
mortals. 

"  Had  been  apprised  before  of  disturbances  which  have 
prevailed  "  presents  great  confusion  as  to  times.     We  can 

*  Richard  Colley  Wellesley,  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  brother  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  was  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  from  1821  to 
1828. 

t  Henry  Addington,  Viscount  Sidmouth,  entered  parliament  in  1784, 
and  held  various  public  offices  between  that  time  and  his  retirement 
into  private  life  in  1822.  He  was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  fol 
twelve  years  ;  and  Prime  Minister  from  1801  to  1804. 

\  Sir  Robert  Peel,  then  Mr.  Peel,  became  Home  Secretary  hi  1822. 


xxiv.]         WELLESLEY'S  DISPATCHES.  235 

hardly  come  at  the  precise  meaning.  It  should  have  been : 
"  Concluding  that,  before  my  arrival,  your  Lordship  was  ap- 
prised of  every  important  circumstance  respecting  the  un- 
happy disturbances  prevailing  in  this  country."  For,  the 
prevalence  was  still  in  existence.  To  submit  is  to  place  at 
the  disposal  of,  to  put  under  the  power  of;  and,  therefore, 
transmit,  or  send,  was  the  proper  word  ;  for  it  is  the  King 
to  whom  the  information  is  submitted.  The  Marquis  sent 
the  information  to  Lord  Sidmouth  that  he  might  submit  it 
to  the  King. 

"  Succession  to  this  government  "  is  a  strangely  pom- 
pous phrase  at  best.  But,  it  is  not  correct ;  for  his  succes- 
sion (if  it  were  one)  took  place  at  his  appointment ;  and  he 
is  about  to  speak  of  what  he  has  learned  since  his  arrival  in 
Dublin  ;  and  why  not  say  arrival? 

The  32d  Paragraph  is,  perhaps,  as  complete  a  specimen 
of  smoothness  in  words  and  of  obscurity  in  meaning  as  ever 
found  its  way  upon  paper :  and  yet  this  was  an  occasion  for 
being  particularly  clear,  seeing  that  the  Marquis  was  here 
explaining  the  plan  of  his  dispatch.  With  reference  to, 
means  in  relation  to,  as  appertaining  to,  having  a  view  to- 
ward. The  first  is  the  best  for  the  Marquis :  and  that  is 
little  short  of  nonsense  ;  for  what  is  arranging  information 
in  relation  to  each  county?  What  does  it  mean?  Not 
what  the  Marquis  thought  he  was  saying,  which  was  that  he 
proposed  to  speak  of  the  state  of  all  the  counties,  and  that 
the  information  relating  to  each  county  he  meaned  [meant] 
to  place  under  a  separate  head.  This  was  what  he  meaned 
[meant]  ;  but  this  he  does  not  say. 

And  then  again,  what  does  respectively  do  here  after 
each?  Respectively  means  particularly  or  relatively ;  and 
as  he  had  before  said,  or  meaned  [meant]  to  say,  that  he 
proposed  to  place  the  information  relating  to  each  county 


2  36  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

under  the  head  of  that  county,  what  need  was  there  of  the 
addition  of  this  long  and  noisy  adverb  ? 

To  be  sure,  to  place  the  information  under  separate 
heads,  each  head  confining  itself  to  the  information  relate 
ing  to  one  county,  was  a  very  good  way  of  facilitating  a 
comparison  of  this  information  with  that  which  [that]  was 
already  in  Lord  Sidmouth's  possession  ;  but  it  was  not 
enough  to  say  "facilitating  a  comparison  with  such  state- 
ments "  ;  and  there  appears,  besides,  to  be  no  reason  to  con- 
elude  that  the  information  before  possessed  was  arranged 
according  to  counties ;  on  the  contrary,  the  Marquis's  lay- 
ing down  of  his  plan  would  induce  us  to  suppose  that  the 
arrangement  of  his  matter  was  new. 

The  latter  part  of  the  sentence  is  all  confusion.  The 
Marquis  means  that,  by  placing  his  information  as  before 
described,  he  shall  enable  Lord  Sidmouth  to  form  a  judg- 
ment of  the  state  of  each  district,  now,  compared  with  the 
state  in  which  it  was  at  the  date  of  the  former  information. 
The  "  relative  state  of  each  particular  district  "  may  mean 
its  state  at  one  paiod  cojnpared  with  its  state  at  another 
petiod ;  but,  "at  different  periods  of  time"  by  no  means 
gives  us  this  idea.  And,  even  if  it  did,  what  are  we  to  do 
with  the  "each  document"  at  the  close?  Each  means  one 
of  two,  one  of  more  than  one.  So  that  here  we  have  the  rela- 
tive state  of  a  district  at  the  different  periods  of  time  speci- 
fied in  one  document ;  and  the  main  point  that  the  Marquis 
was  driving  at  was  to  show  Lord  Sidmouth  the  manner  in 
which  he  was  going  to  enable  him  to  compare  the  contents 
of  the  present  document  with  those  of  the  documents  already 
held  in  his  possession. 

I  have  taken  here  the  first  two  sentences  of  the  dispatch. 
They  are  a  fair  specimen  of  the  Marquis's  style,  the  great 
characteristic  of  which  is  obsciirity  arising  from  affectation. 


xxiv.]         WELLE SLEY'S  DLSPATCHES.  237 

What  he  meaned  [meant]  was  this  :  "  I  propose  to  place 
the  information  relating  to  each  county  under  a  distinct 
head,  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  a  comparison  of  this  in- 
formation with  that  which  [that]  your  Lordship  may  already 
possess,  and  also  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  you  to  form  a 
judgment  of  the  present  state  of  each  county,  compared  with 
the  state  in  which  it  was  at  the  date  of  former  dispatches." 
And  would  it  not  have  been  better  to  write  thus  than  to  put 
upon  paper  a  parcel  of  words,  the  meaning  of  which,  even 
if  you  read  them  a  hundred  times  over,  must  still  remain  a 
matter  of  uncertainty  ? 

But,  there  is  another  fault  here  ;  and  that  is,  all  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  sentence  is  a  mere  redundancy  ;  for  of  what 
was  Lord  Sidmouth  to  "  form  a  judgment  "  ?  A  judgment 
of  the  comparative  state  of  the  country  at  the  two  periods  ? 
What  could  this  be  more  than  the  making  of  the  compari- 
son ?  Judgtnent,  in  this  case,  means  opinion  ;  and,  if  the 
Marquis  had  said  that  his  object  was  to  enable  Lord  Sid- 
mouth to  form  a  judgment  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done,  for 
instance,  in  consequence  of  the  change  in  the  state  of  the 
country,  there  would  have  been  some  sense  in  it ;  but  to 
enable  him  to  see  the  change  was  all  that  the  Marquis  was 
talking  about ;  and  the  very  act  of  making  the  comparison 
was  to  discern,  or  judge  of,  the  change. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  swell  out  these  remarks,  or, 
with  this  dispatch  before  me,  I  could  go  on  to  a  great  ex- 
tent indeed.  Some  few  passages  I  can  not,  however,  re- 
frain from  just  pointing  out  to  you. 

33.  "  The  commanding  officer  at  Ban  try  reports  a  daring 
attack  made  a  few  nights  previously,  on  several  very  respectable 
houses  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  that  town,  by  a  numerous 
banditti,  who  succeeded  in  obtaining  arms  from  many  ;  and  the 
officer  stationed  at  Skibbereen  states  his  opinion  that  the  spirit 
of  disaffection,  which  had  been  confined  to  the  northern  Baronies 


238  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

of  the  county,  had  spread  in  an  alarming  measure  through  the 
whole  of  West  Carbury ;  that  nightly  meetings  are  held  at  vari- 
ous places  on  the  coast,  and  that  bands  of  offenders  assemble, 
consisting  of  not  less  than  three  hundred  in  each  band. 

34.  "  It  further  appears,  from  various  communications,  that 
the  greater  part  of  the  population  of  the  northern  part  of  the 
county  of  Cork  had  assembled  in  the  mountains,  and  that  they 
have  in  some  places  made  demonstrations  of  attack,  and  in  others 
have  committed  outrages  by  day,  with  increased  force  and  bold- 
ness.'" 

"  Reports  an  attack  "  is  of  the  slang  niilitary,  and  should 
not  have  forced  its  way  into  this  dispatch.  "  States  his 
opinion,  that,"  is  little  better.  But  it  is  to  the  strange  con- 
fusion in  the  times  of  the  verbs  that  I  here  wish  to  direct 
your  attention.  This  is  a  fault  the  Marquis  very  frequently 
commits. 

35.  "  The  Magistrates  resident  at  Dunmanaway  report  that 
illegal  oaths  have  for  a  long  time  been  administered  in  that  neigh- 
borhood ;  that  nocturnal  meetings  have  frequently  been  held ; 
that  in  the  adjoining  parishes,  notices  of  an  inflammatory  de- 
scription have  been  posted  ;  and  in  one  parish,  arms  have  been 
taken  from  the  peaceable  inhabitants. 

36.  "  The  Rector  of reports,  on  the  10th,  that  six  houses 

of  his  parishioners  had  been  [were]  attacked  on  the  preceding 
night,  and  some  arms  obtained  from  them,  and  then  an  attempt 
had  been  made  to  assassinate  Captain  Bernard,  an  active  yeo- 
manry officer,  when  only  a  short  distance  behind  his  corps,  but 
that,  owing  to  the  pistol  presented  at  him  missing  fire,  he  escaped, 
and  his  brother  shot  the  assailant." 

We  do  not  know  from  the  words  "  have  for  a  long  time 
been  administered,"  whether  the  oaths  were  administered  a 
long  time  ago,  or  are  now,  and  long  have  been  administer- 
ing. The  that  should  have  been  repeated  between  the  and 
and  the  in  toward  the  close  of  Paragraph  35  ;  for  the  want 
of  it  takes  the  last  fact  out  of  the  report  of  the  Magistrates, 
and  makes  it  an  assertion  of  the  Marquis.  The  same  re- 
mark applies  to  the  36th  Paragraph,  where,  for  the  want  of 
the  that  between  the  and  and  the  then,  it  is  the  Marquis, 


xxiv.]  WELLESLEY'S  DISPATCHES.  239 

and  not  the  Rector,  who  [that]  asserts  the  fact  of  an  attempt 
to  assassinate  the  Captain.  An  odd  sort  of  an  attempt  to 
assassinate,  by-the-by,  seeing  that  it  was  made  by  a  pistol 
openly  presented  at  him,  and  that,  too,  when  his  troop  was 
just  on  before,  and  when  his  brother  was  so  near  at  hand  as 
to  be  able  to  shoot  the  assailant  I  But  assassinate  is  become 
a  fashionable  word  in  such  cases. 

37.  "On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  a  detachment  of  the 
nth  Regiment  was  attacked,  on  its  march  from  Macroom  to 
Bandon,  by  a  party  of  sixty  men,  who  followed  it  for  three  miles, 
and  took  advantage  of  the  inclosures  to  fire,  and  to  retard  the 
march  of  the  King's  troops." 

The  meaning  is  that  the  party  of  sixty  men  followed  it  (the 
regiment),  took  advantage  of  the  inclosures  to  fire  on  it,  and 
to  retard  its  march  ;  but,  the  Marquis,  from  a  desire  to 
write  fine,  leaves  us  in  doubt  whether  the  regiment  and  the 
King's  troops  be  the  same  body  of  men  ;  and  this  doubt 
is,  indeed,  countenanced  by  the  almost  incredible  circum- 
stance that  a  regular  regiment  should  be  folio-wed  for  three 
miles,  and  actually  have  its  march  retarded  by  sixty  men  ! 

38.  "A  countryman's  house  is  also  stated  to  have  been  at- 
tacked by  forty  men,  well  mounted  and  armed,  who  severely  beat 

and  wounded  him  and  took  his  horse.     reports  an  attack 

on  the  house  of  Mr.  Sweet,  near  Macroom,  who,  having  received 
previous  intimation  of  the  attack,  and  having  prepared  for  de- 
fense, succeeded  in  repulsing  the  assailants,  about  two  hundred 
in  number,  with  a  loss  of  two  killed,  who  were  carried  off  by 
their  associates,  although  their  horses  were  secured." 

Here  we  have  reports  an  attack  again  ;  but,  your  atten- 
tion is  called  to  the  latter  part  of  the  paragraph,  where  it 
would  appear  that  Mr.  Sweet  sustained  a  loss  of  two  killed ; 
and  yet  these  two  dead  men  were  carried  off  by  their  assail- 
ants. If  the  Marquis  had  stopped  at  the  word  killed,  it 
would  have  been  impossible  not  to  understand  him  to  mean 
that  Mr.  Sweet  had  two  of  his  men  killed. 


240  SIX  LESSONS,  [letter 

39.  "A  Magistrate  communicates  that  information  had  [has] 
been  received  by  him  of  several  intended  attacks  upon  houses  in 
that  neighborhood,  but  that  they  had  been  [were]  prevented  by 
the  judicious  employment  of  the  police,  stationed  at  Sallans,  un- 
der the  Peace  Preservation  Act." 

By  employing  the  Police  in  a  judicious  manner,  the  Mar- 
quis means  ;  but  says  quite  another  thing. 

40.  "  The  Police  Magistrate  of  Westmeath  reports  the  setting 
fire  to  a  farmer's  outhouses,  which,  together  with  the  cattle  in 
them,  WAS  consumed." 

It  should  be  "  the  setting  of  fire  "  ;  and  it  should  be 
were,  and  not  was ;  for  the  deuce  is  in  it  if  outhouses,  to* 
gether  with  the  cattle  in  them,  do  not  make  up  a.  plural. 

41.  "  The  result  of  the  facts  stated  in  this  Dispatch,  and  its 
inclosures,  seems  to  justify  an  opinion  that,  although  no  material 
change  has  occurred  in  any  other  part  of  Ireland,  the  disturb- 
ances in  the  vicinity  of  Macroom  have  assumed  a  more  decided 
aspect  of  general  disorder,  and  accordingly  I  have  resorted  to 
additional  measures  of  precaution  and  military  operation." 

There  should  be  an  in  between  the  and  and  the  its.  But 
it  is  not  the  result  of  the  facts  that  seems  to  justify  the  opin- 
ion ;  it  is  the  facts  themselves  that  justify  the  opinion,  and 
the  opinion  is  the  result.  Measures  of  military  operation, 
too,  is  an  odd  sort  of  phrase.  This  paragraph  is  all  bad, 
from  beginning  to  end  ;  but  I  am  merely  pointing  out  promi- 
nent and  gross  errors. 

42.  "  Another  Magistrate  reports  several  robberies  of  arms  in 
the  parishes  of  Skull  and  Kilmore,  and  the  burning  of  a  corn 
store  at  Crookhaven  ;  and.  another,  in  representing  the  alarm- 
ing state  of  the  county,  adds,  that  the  object  of  the  insurgents, 
in  one  district  at  least,  has  not  been  confined  to  the  lowering  of 
rents  and  tithes,  but  extended  to  the  refusal  also  of  the  Priest's 
dues." 

To  rob  applies  to  the  person  or  thing  from  whom  or  [from] 
which,  something  is  violently  and  unlawfully  taken.  Men 
rob  a  man  of  his  money,  or  a  house  of  its  goods  ;  but,  it  is 


xxiv.]         WELLESLEY'S  DISPATCHES.  241 

not  the  money  and  goods  that  are  robbed.  Yet  this  is  a  very 
common  phrase  with  the  Marquis,  who,  in  other  places,  talks 
of  "plundering  arms  from  people,"  and  who,  by  saying  "  six 
hundred  and  seventy-six  fire-arms"  and  the  like,  leaves  us 
clearly  to  understand  that  he  is  at  liberty  to  use  this  noun 
in  the  singular,  and,  of  course,  to  say  a  fire-arm  whenever 
he  may  choose,  a  liberty,  however,  which  [that]  I  would,  my 
dear  James,  earnestly  recommend  to  you  never  to  think  of 
taking. 

To  confine  and  extend  an  object  does  not  seem  to  be  very 
clear  sense :  and,  at  any  rate,  to  say  that  the  object  of  low- 
ering rents  and  tithes  has  been  extended  to  the  refusal  also 
of  the  Priest's  dues  makes  sad  work  indeed.  Without  the 
also,  the  thing  might  pass  ;  but  that  word  makes  this  part 
of  the  sentence  downright  nonsense. 

43.  "  No  additional  military  force,  no  improvement  nor  aug- 
mentation of  the  police,  would  now  be  effectual  without  the  aid 
of  the  Insurrection  Act ;  with  that  aid  it  appears  to  be  rational 
to  expect  that  tranquillity  may  be  maintained,  confirmed,  and  ex- 
tended through  Ireland.  It  is,  therefore,  my  duty,  in  every  view, 
to  request  the  renewal  of  the  law,  of  which  the  operation  forms 
the  subject  of  this  dispatch." 

Did  any  man,  in  any  writing  of  any  sort,  ever  before 
meet  with  anything  like  this  ?  Suppose  I  were  to  say,  "  the 
waitings  of  which  the  inaccuracies  form  the  subject  of  these 
remarks,"  what  would  the  world  think  and  say  of  me  ?  This 
is  indeed  "  prose  run  77iad." 

44.  "With  respect  to  Westmeath,  the  Chief  Magistrate  of 
Police  has  stated  the  revival  of  those  party  feuds  and  personal 
conflicts  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mullingar,  which  [that]  are  con- 
sidered in  this  country  to  be  indications  of  the  return  of  public 
tranquillity,  and  from  which  the  magistrate  expects  the  detection 
of  past  offenses  against  the  state." 

One  loses  sight  of  all  about  language  here,  in  contem- 
plating the  shocking,  the  horrible  fact !     For,  what  is  so 
16 


242  SIX  LESSONS.  [letter 

horrible  as  the  fact  here  officially  stated,  that  party  feuds 
and  personal  conflicts  are  deemed  indications  favorable  to 
the  government,  and  that  they  are  expected  by  the  magis- 
trate to  lead  to  the  detection  of  past  offenses  against  the  state ! 
As  to  the  Grammar:  to  "state  the  revival"  is  just  as  good 
English  as  it  would  be  to  say  that  the  magistrate  has  stated 
the  fine  weather.  The  u  the  return"  ought  to  be  "a  re- 
turn" 

45.  "  The  early  expiration  of  the  Act  would,  at  least,  hazard 
the  revival  of  that  tyranny  ;  the  restraints  imposed  on  violence 
have  not  yet  been  of  sufficient  duration  to  form  any  solid  foun- 
dation of  a  better  and  more  disciplined  disposition  in  the  minds 
of  the  people.  Even  now  it  is  believed  that  arms  are  retained  in 
the  hope  of  the  expiration  of  the  law  on  the  1st  of  August :  and 
although  a  more  auspicious  sentiment  may  exist  in  the  hearts  of 
some,  even  of  the  guilty,  it  would  be  contrary  to  all  prudent 
policy  and  provident  wisdom,  by  a  premature  relaxation  of  the 
law,  to  afford  facility  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  worst  de- 
signs, and  to  weaken  the  protections  and  safeguards,  which  [that] 
now  secure  the  lives  and  properties  of  the  loyal  and  obedient, 
before  the  spirit  of  outrage  had  [shall  have]  been  effectually  ex- 
tinguished." 

"  To  hazard  the  revival  "  is  not  correct.  To  hazard '  is 
to  expose  to  danger ;  and  certainly  the  Marquis  did  not  mean 
that  the  revival  of  the  tyranny  was  a  thing  that  ought  not 
to  be  put  in  danger.  The  word  hazard  had  no  business 
there.  Another  mode  of  expression  ought  to  have  been 
used  :  such  as,  "  exposed  the  country  to  the  danger  of  the 
revival  of  the  tyranny." 

The  semicolon  after  tyranny  ought  to  have  been  a  full- 
point.  "  In  the  hope  of  the  expiration  "  is  bad  enough ! 
but,  it  is  the  arrangement  of  this  sentence,  the  placing  of  the 
several  parts  of  it,  which  [that]  is  most  worthy  of  your  at- 
tention, and  which  [that]  ought  to  be  a  warning  to  eveiy 
one  who  [that]  takes  pen  in  hand. 

"Prudent  policy  and  provident  wisdom  "  would  seem  to 


xxiv.]  A   BISHOP'S   CHARGE.  243 

say  that  there  are  such  things  as  imprudent  policy  and  inu 
provident  wisdom  ;  but,  still,  all  the  rest  is  inferior,  in  point 
of  importance,  to  the  confusion  which  [that]  follows,  and 
which  [that]  leaves  you  wholly  in  doubt  as  to  the  meaning 
of  the  writer.  Now,  observe  with  what  facility  this  mass 
of  confusion  is  reduced  to  order,  and  that,  too,  without  add- 
ing to  or  taking  from  the  Marquis  one  single  word.  I  be- 
gin after  the  word  wisdom  :  "  to  afford,  by  a  premature  re- 
laxation of  the  law,  facility  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
worst  designs,  and  to  weaken,  before  the  spirit  of  outrage 
had  been  effectually  extinguished,  the  safeguards  which 
[that]  now  secure  the  lives  and  properties  of  the  loyal  and 
obedient." 

How  clear  is  this  !  And  how  much  more  harmonious 
and  more  elegant  too,  than  the  sentence  of  the  Marquis  ; 
and  yet  the  words  are  all  the  same  identical  words !  To- 
ward the  close  of  Letter  XXI,  I  gave  you,  from  Dr.  John- 
son and  Dr.  Watts,  some  striking  instances  of  the  wrong 
placing  of  words  in  sentences  :  and,  lest  these  should  be  in- 
sufficient to  keep  so  great  a  man  as  the  Marquis  in  counte- 
nance, I  will  here  show  that  a  Bishop  can  commit  errors  of 
the  same  sort  and  greater  in  degree. 

I  have  before  me  "  A  Charge  delivered  to  the  Clergy  of 
the  Diocese  of  Winchester,  at  a  p>i?nary  visitation  of  that 
diocese,  by  George  Tomline,  D.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  Lord  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  Prelate  of  the  most  Noble  Order  of  the  Gar- 
ter."*  We  will  not  stop  here  to  inquire  what  a  prelate's 
office  may  require  of  him  relative  to  an  Order  which  [that] 

*  George  Tomline,  successively  Bishop  of  Lincoln  and  Winchester, 
author  of  "  Elements  of  Christian  Theology,"  "  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Pitt," 
and  a  "  Refutation  of  the  Charge  of  Calvinism  brought  against  thq 
Church  of  England,"  born  1750;  died  1827.  The  family  name  of  this 
prelate  was  Prettyman,  but  he  took  that  of  Tomline  on  inheriting  an 
estate  left  to  him. 


244  SIX  IESSONS.  [letter 

history  tells  us  arose  out  of  a  favorite  lady  [*s]  dropping  he? 
garter  at  a  dance  ;  but  I  must  observe  that,  as  the  titles  here 
stand,  it  would  appear  that  the  last  is  deemed  the  most  hon- 
orable and  of  most  importance  to  the  Clergy  !  This  Bishop, 
whose  name  was  Prettyman,  was  the  Tutor  of  that  Will- 
iam Pitt  who  [that]  was  called  the  heaven-born  Minister, 
and  a  history  of  whose  life  has  been  written  by  this  Bishop. 
So  that  we  have  here,  a  Doctor  of  Divinity,  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  a  Prelate  of  the  Most  Noble  Order  of  the  Gar- 
ter, and  a  Bishop  of  one  of  the  richest  Sees  in  the  whole 
world,  who,  besides,  is  an  [a]  Historian,  and  was  Tutor  to 
a  heaven-born  Minister.  Let  us  see  then  what  sort  of  writ- 
ing comes  from  such  a  source.  I  could  take  an  incorrect 
sentence,  I  could  even  take  a  specimen  of  downright  non- 
sense, from  almost  any  page  of  the  Charge.  But  I  shall 
content  myself  with  the  very  first  sentence  of  it. 

46.  "  My  Reverend  Brethren,  being  called  to  preside  over  this 
distinguished  Diocese,  at  a  late  period  of  life,  I  have  thought  it 
incumbent  upon  me  not  to  delay  the  opportunity  of  becoming 
personally  acquainted  with  my  clergy  longer  than  circumstances 
rendered  absolutely  necessary." 

There  are  two  double  meanings  in  this  short  sentence. 
Was  he  called  at  some  former  time,  to  preside  over  the  dio- 
cese w hen  he  should  become  old?  or  was  he,  when  he  had 
become  old,  called  to  preside  over  the  diocese  ?  But  what 
follows  is  still  worse.  Does  he  mean  that  he  thought  it  in- 
cumbent on  him  to  become  acquainted  with  his  clergy  as 
soon  as  possible,  or  in  as  short  a  time  as  possible  ?  To  delay 
an  opportunity  is  not  very  good  ;  and  that  which  [that]  is 
of  a  man's  own  appointment,  and  which  [that]  proceeds 
purely  from  his  own  will,  can  not  strictly  be  called  an  op- 
portunity. But,  it  is  the  double  meaning,  occasioned  by  the 
wrong  placing  of  the  words,  that  I  wish  you  to  attend  to. 


xxiv.]  A   BISHOP'S  CHARGE.  245 

Now,  see  how  easily  the  sentence  might,  with  the  same 
words,  have  been  made  unequivocal,  clear,  and  elegant : 
"  My  Reverend  Brethren,  being  called,  at  a  late  period  of 
life,  to  preside  over  this  distinguished  Diocese,  I  have 
thought  it  incumbent  on  me  not  to  delay  longer  than  cir- 
cumstances rendered  absolutely  necessary,  the  opportunity 
of  becoming  personally  acquainted  with  my  clergy." 

How  easy  it  was  to  write  thus!  And  yet  this  Bishop 
did  not  know  how  to  do  it.  I  dare  say  that  he  corrected 
and  recorrected  every  sentence  of  this  Charge.  And  yet 
what  bungling  work  it  is,  after  all !  And  these  are  your 
college  and  university  bred  men  !  These  are  the  men  who 
[that]  are  called  Doctors  on  account  of  their  literary  ac- 
quirements, doctus  being  the  Latin  word  for  learned !  Thus 
it  is  that  the  mass  of  mankind  have  been  imposed  upon  by 
big-sounding  names,  which,  however,  have  seldom  failed  to 
insure,  to  those  who  [that]  have  assumed  them,  power,  ease, 
luxury,  and  splendor,  at  the  expense  of  those  who  [that] 
have  been  foolish  or  base  enough  to  acquiesce,  or  to  seem 
to  acquiesce,  in  the  fitness  of  the  assumption. 

Such  acquiescence  is  not,  however,  so  general  nowa- 
days as  it  formerly  was  ;  and  the  chagrin  which  [that]  the 
"  Doctors  "  feel  at  the  change  is  not  more  evident  than  it  is 
amusing.  In  the  very  Charge  which  [that]  I  have  just 
quoted,  the  Tutor  of  the  heaven-born  Minister  says,  "  A 
spirit  is  still  manifest  among  us,  producing  an  impatience 
of  control,  a  reluctance  to  acknowledge  superiority,  and  an 
eagerness  to  call  in  question  the  expediency  of  established 
forms  and  customs"  What  !  is  it,  then,  a  sin,  is  it  an 
offense  against  God,  to  be  reluctant  to  "acknowledge  superi- 
ority "  in  a  Bishop  who  [that]  can  not  write  so  well  as  our- 
selves ?  Oh,  no  !  We  are  not  to  be  censured,  because  we 
doubt  of  the  expediency  of  those  establishments,  those  Col- 


246  SIX  LESSONS.         [letter  xxiv, 

leges  and  Universities,  which  [that]  cause  immense  reve- 
nues, arising  from  public  property,  to  be  expended  on  the 
education  of  men,  who  [that],  after  all,  can  produce,  in  the 
literary  way,  nothing  better  than  writings  such  as  those  oa 
which  we  have  now  been  remarking. 


INDEX 


***  The  numerals  indicate  the  paragraph  unless  the  page  is  specified 


A'  and  o\  with   the  mark  of 

elision,  126. 
A  or  an,  indefinite  article,  13, 

35- 
Abbreviations,       mischievous, 
109. 
of  prepositions,  126. 
slovenly  and  vulgar,  153. 
Abercrombie,   Rev.  Dr.,  faulty- 
passage    from,    selected 
by    Lindley    Murray  as 
good  grammar,  194. 
Absolute  case,  Lindley  Murray 

on  the,  191. 
Accent  defined,  105. 
Active  verbs,  83,  84. 
Active-intransitive  verbs.     Edi- 
tor's note,  page  53. 
Active-transitive   verbs.      Edi- 
tor's note,  page  53. 
Addison,  faulty  passage  from, 
said  by  Dr.  Blair  to  be  a 
model  sentence,  175. 
Adjectives  defined,  21. 
etymology  of,  72-81. 
degrees  of  comparison,  73. 
more  and  most  with,  81. 
syntax  of,  215-222. 
Admiration  mark,  145,  148. 
Adverbs  defined,  27,  28. 
etymology  of,  121-124. 


Adverbs,  simple  or  compound, 
124. 
syntax  of,  283,  284. 
bad  grammar  in  the  use  of, 
page  179. 
Agreement  of  the  verb  with  its 
nominative,  87,  89. 
of  pronouns  with  the  nouns 
they  stand  for,  178. 
Ambiguity  in  the  use  of  rela- 
tive pronouns.     Editor's 
note,  pages  6-10. 
Any  one  used  by  Dr.  Blair  for 

either,  213. 
Apostrophe,  the,  145,  149. 
Articles,  a,  an,  the,  13,  35. 
etymology  of,  34-36. 
syntax  of,  157-163. 
bad  grammar  in  the  use  of, 
page  168. 
As  and  than  followed   by  an 

objective  case,  85 . 
Auxiliary  verbs,  to  be,  to  have, 
to  let,  to  do,  103,  110-117. 

Bad  grammar  from  Dr.  John- 
son and  Dr.  Watts,  pages 
165-186. 

Bad  writing,  not  always  un- 
grammatical,  page  202. 

Be,  auxiliary  verb,  atone  of  all 


248 


INDEX. 


verbs,  changes   its  form 
for  a  past  time  in  sub- 
junctive mode,  ioo. 
Be,  conjugation  of,  117. 
between  singular  and  plural 

nouns,  ^47. 
in  the  subjunctive  mode,  275, 
2S0. 
Big  words,   with   the    appear- 
ance of  force,  page  215. 
Blackstone,      Judge,     passage 
from,    confused     in     its 
personal  pronouns,  177. 
singular  verb  used  by,  after 
a  plural  nominative,  239. 
confused  sentence  by,  251. 
indicative  used  by,  instead  of 
subjunctive  mode,  281. 
Blair,    Dr.    Hugh.     See    note, 

page  99. 
Blair,  Dr.  Hugh,  confused  pas- 
sages from,  171,  179. 
uses  they  for  those,  etc.,  210. 
uses  any  one  for  either,  213. 
uses  plural  verb  after  a  sin- 
gular nominative,  247. 
makes  mistake  in  the  time  of 

an  action,  259. 
uses  wrongly  the  word  done, 
265. 
Branches  of  nouns,  40. 
By  heart  or  hear't,  131. 

Capitals,  154. 

Caret  or  blunder  mark,  155. 

Cases  of  nouns,  44. 

of  personal  pronouns,  54. 
of  the  pronoun  who,  62. 
Castlereagh's,  Lord,  note,  bad 
grammar  in,  page  219. 
second  note,  page  229. 
Ccbbett's   grammar   unrivaled 
for  the  purposes  of  self- 
education.  Editor's  note, 
page  5. 
Colon,  the,  140. 
Comma,  the.  142. 


Common  nouns,  40. 
Comparison,  degrees  of,  73. 
Composition,    no   patching  ot 
mending  in,  155. 
rules  for,  pages  197,  199. 
Compound  noun,  an  advantage 
to  the  English  language, 
169. 
Compound  times  of  verbs,  102. 
Compound   words,    useless  to 
waste   time   over  them, 
127. 
Conjugating  defined,  98. 
Conjugation  of  to  work,  98. 
to  have,  115. 
to  be,  117. 
Conjunctions  defined,  31. 
etymology  of,  128. 
copulative    and    disjunctive, 

128. 
syntax  of,  283,  284. 
bad  grammar  in  the  use  of, 
page  183. 
Connecting  words,  how  to  use, 

page  198. 
Consonants,  the,  6. 
Co-ordinating     relative     pro- 
nouns  who  and   which. 
Editor's  note,  pages  6,  7. 
Crowding    relative    pronouns, 
208. 

Dash,    the,  a  cover  for  igno- 
rance, 156. 

Defective  verbs,  119. 

Definite  article,  the,  35. 

Degrees  of  comparison,  73. 

Demonstrative    pronouns,    67, 
210. 

Dictionary,  use  of  the,  133, 284. 

Do,  auxiliary  verb,  in. 
caution  in  the  use  of,  265. 
can  never  in  any  of  its  parts 
supply   the    place   of    a 
neuter  verb,  265,  266. 

Do  and  did,  in,  258,  267. 

Done,  wrong  use  of,  264-266. 


INDEX. 


249 


Double-negative  and  ellipsis, 
bad  grammar  in  use  of 
the,  page  1S6. 

Each,  either,  every,  wrongfully- 
used  with  plural  verbs  or 
plural  pronouns,  211. 
Either  and  neither.      Editor's 

note,  page  125. 
Elision,  47,  145,  149. 
Ellipsis,  meaning  of  the,  227. 

to  omitted  by,  273. 
Enemy  not  a  noun  of  multi- 
tude, page  194. 
Errors  and  nonsense  in  a  king's 

speech,  page  187. 
Esteem  themselves  happy  for 
deem  themselves  happy, 
210. 
Et  cetera  (&c),  remark  on,  153. 
Etymology  denned,  8. 
of  articles,  34-36. 
nouns,  37-48. 
pronouns,  49-71. 
adjectives,  72-81. 
verbs,  82-120. 
adverbs,  121-124. 
prepositions,  125-127. 
conjunctions,  128. 
interjections,  32. 
Exclamation-mark,  145,  148. 
Expected  to  have  seen  for  ex- 
pected to  see,  259. 
Extremely  worthy,  210. 

Fallen,  I  am,  equivalent  to  I 
am  in  a  fallen  state,  and 
so  with  some  other  words 
from  neuter  verbs,  270. 

Feel  satisfied,  a  senseless  ex- 
pression, 265. 

Figurative   language  in   using 
the  definite  article,  40. 
in  genders  of  nouns  and  per- 
sonal pronouns,  43. 
caution  in  using,  pages  180, 
199. 


Formation  of  plural  of  nouns, 

41. 
of   degrees   of    comparison, 

74-77- 
of  present  time  of  verbs,  105. 
of  past  time  and  participles 

of  verbs,  105. 
of  adverbs  from  adjectives, 

121,   122. 

Full-point,  full-stop,  or  period, 

139- 
Future  time  of  verbs,  90. 

Genders  of  nouns  and  personal 
pronouns,  42,  53. 

Generally  speaking  equivalent 
to  when  we  speak  gener- 
ally, 248. 

Gone,  adjective  and  participle, 
270. 

Government  of  nouns  and  pro- 
nouns by   active  verbs, 
230. 
by  prepositions,  164. 

Grammar  and  its  branches  de- 
fined, 1-5. 
the  business  of,  284. 

Hall,  Dr.  Fitzedward,  on  than 

whom,  201. 
Hanged— hung,  109. 
Have,    auxiliary    verb,    conju- 
gated, 115. 
wrong  use  of,  with  the  pas- 
sive participle,  when  the 
past    time   or   infinitive 
should  be  used,  259. 
Hume's  bad  grammar,  170  184. 
wrong  use  of  that  for  who, 

202. 
wrong   use   of   a  degree  of 
comparison,  217. 
Hyphen,  the,  124,  145,  150. 
put  for  possessive  case,  168. 

I  If,  a  mark  of  the  subjunctive 
mode,  118  ;  has  nothing 


250 


INDEX. 


to  do  with  the  govern- 
ment of  verbs,  277. 

Imperative  mode,  96. 

Impersonal  verbs,  119. 

Indefinite  article,  35. 

Indeterminate  or  indefinite 
pronouns,  71,  211. 

Indicative  mode,  94,  274. 

Infinitive  mode,  93. 

may  be  a  noun,  and  in  the 
nominative  case  or  ob- 
jective case,  273,  285. 

Insight  into  said  to  be  im- 
properly used,  but  justi- 
fied by  the  editor,  172. 

Interjections,  32. 

Interrogation-mark,  145,  147. 

Interrogative  pronouns,  69, 
205. 

Irregular  verbs,  107. 

It,  personal  pronoun,  and  in  its 
impersonal  capacity,  60. 
with  the  verb  to  be,  189,  193. 
the  great  troubler,  194. 
misuse  of,  195. 

It  had  been  better  omitted  said 
to  be  a  sheer  vulgarism, 
but  justified  by  the  edi- 
tor, 259. 

Italics,  154. 

Johnson,  Dr.,  uses  every  one 
followed  by  their,  212. 

has  eloped  as  an  active  verb, 
269. 

other  grammatical  errors  in, 
pages  168-186. 

King's  speech,  errors  and  non- 
sense in  a,  page  187. 

Learned  languages,  pages  166, 
167. 

Let,  auxiliary  verb,  no. 

Lie — lay,  84. 

Logic,  Dr.  Watts's,  bad  gram- 
mar in,  pages  168-186. 


Long  island,  Cobbett's  Gram« 
mar    written   on.     Edi- 
tor's note,  page  13. 
Lowth,  Bishop.    See  note, page 

95- 
Lowth,  Bishop,  uses  the  article 
wrongly,  158. 
on  plural  nouns  after  it,  190. 
on    whom    following    than, 

201. 
misplaces  it,  201. 
on  the  relative  pronoun  as  a 

nominative,  245. 
on  the  subjunctive  mode,  277. 

Mine,  my,  56. 

Misplaced  words,  page  184. 
Modes  in  verbs,  91. 
infinitive,  93. 
indicative,  94. 
subjunctive,  95. 
imperative,  96. 
Moods.     See  Modes. 
More  and  most  in  degrees  of 

comparison,  81. 
Murray,    Lindley.      See   note, 

page  112. 
Murray,  Lindley,  on  the  abso- 
lute case,  191. 
selects   faulty  passage  from 
Rev.     Dr.    Abercrombie 
as  correct,  194. 
on  different  persons  disjoined 
by  or  and  nor,  and  on 
nominatives     to    verbs, 

243- 
on  the  relative  pronoun  as  a 

nominative,  245. 
on  the  subjunctive  mode,  277. 
Must  corrected  to  should  have 

to,  by  the  editor,  169. 

Neuter  verbs,  83,  84,  268. 
Nominative  case,  46. 

explained,  231. 

may  be  one  word,  or  two  or 
more  words,  240. 


INDEX. 


251 


Nominative  case,  may  be  of  not 
only  two  or  more  nouns 
or  personal  pronouns, 
but  of  many  other  words 
along  with  them,  249. 

omission  of  the,  250. 

must  always  be  kept  in  view, 
251,  282. 
tfo  patching,  or   mending   in 

composition,  155. 
Nouns,  defined,  14. 

etymology  of,  37. 

branches  of,  40. 

proper  and  common,  40. 

singular  and  plural  numbers, 

4i. 
genders,  42. 
cases,  44. 
nominative  case,  46,  231,  240, 

249,  282. 
possessive  case,  46,  166,  167, 

253- 
objective  case,  48,  232,  252. 
syntax  of,  164. 
of  number  or  multitude,  181. 
governed  by  active  verbs,  230. 
governed     by    prepositions, 

236. 
may  be  the  active  participle, 

272. 
or  the  infinitive  mode,  273. 
bad  grammar  in  the  use  of, 

page  169. 
Numbers,  singular  and  plural, 

41- 
of  personal  pronouns,  52. 
in  verbs,  89. 
in  nouns  of  multitude,  181. 

Objective  case,  48. 
explained,  232. 
has  nothing  to  do  with  verbs, 
252. 
Of,  a  sign  of  the  possessive  case, 

36. 
Or  and  nor,  effect  of,  240,  242. 
Orthography  defined,  6. 


Ought,  defective  verb,  119. 

Ought  to  and  should,  not  to  be 
used  indiscriminately  ; 
Cobbett  sometimes  cor- 
rected. Editor's  note, 
page  79. 

Paragraph,  meaning  of  a.    In- 
troduction, page  19. 
as  marked  in  the  Bible,  152. 
how  to  use  the,  page  198. 
Parenthesis,  the,  146. 

faulty  omission  of  the,  146. 
Participles,  92,  262-264,  272- 
wrong  use  of  active,  260. 
past  time  of  verbs  used  for 

passive,  263. 
bad  grammar  in  the  use  of, 
page  178. 
Parts  of  speech,  11. 
Passive  verbs,  83,  262. 
Past  time  of  verbs,  90. 
Pension  and  pensioner  defined 
by   Dr.    Johnson.       See 

Per,  a  mystical  sort  of  word, 

160. 
Person,  in  personal  pronouns, 

Si- 

in  verbs,  86. 

explained,  238. 
Personal  pronouns,  49. 
Personification,  182,  198. 
Plural  number,  41. 
Points   (punctuation),    9,  137* 
156. 

importance  of,  137. 
Possessive  case,  47,  166,  167. 

has  nothing  to  do  with  verbs;, 

253- 
Potential  modes  only  serve  to 

puzzle  the  learner,  274. 
Practical    hints    for    studying 

grammar,  10,   120,  131- 

*33,  135- 
Prepositions  defined,  29. 
etymology  of,  125. 


252 


INDEX. 


Prepositions,  abbreviations  of, 
126. 
govern  nouns  and  pronouns 
in  the  objective  case,  236. 
syntax  of,  283,  284. 
bad  grammar  in  the  use  of, 
page  181. 
Present  time  of  verbs,  90. 
Present  time  (tense),  what  is 
true  at  all  times  always 
to  be   expressed  in  the. 
Editor's  note,  page  188. 
Prince   Regent's,  the,    speech, 
bad   grammar   in,  page 
213. 
Pronunciation,  7. 
Pronouns,  defined,  17. 
etymology  of,  49. 
personal,  49. 
relative,  62,  197. 
demonstrative,  67,  210. 
interrogative,  69,  205. 
indeterminate   or  indefinite, 

71,  211. 
synta-  of,  174. 
cases  of,  184,  185. 
governed  by  verbs  and  prep- 
ositions in  the  objective 
case,  184,  185. 
crowding  of,  208. 
bad  grammar  in  the  use  of, 
page  171. 
Proper  nouns,  40. 
Prosody,  7. 
Punctuation,  9,  137-156. 

Quotation-marks,  151. 

Raise — rise,  84. 

u  Rambler,"  Dr.  Johnson's,  bad 
grammar  in,  pages  168- 
186. 

Regular  verbs,  104,  106. 

falsely  deemed  irregular,  108. 

Relative  pronouns,  discrimi- 
nating use  of  the.  Edi- 
tor's note,  page  6. 


Relative  pronouns,  62,  197. 
can  never  be  nominatives,  245. 
editor's  remark  on  the  above, 
page  141. 
Repetition     better    than     bad 

grammar,  241. 
Restrictive    relative     pronoun 
that.       Editor's    notes, 
pages  6,  7,  119. 

Same  words,  but  belonging  to 
more  than  one  part  of 
speech,  130. 

Section,  how  marked,  152. 

Self  and  selves,  59. 

Self-education,  Cobbett's  gram- 
mar unrivaled  for.  Edi- 
tor's note,  page  5. 

Semicolon,  the,  141. 

Sentence,  as  a  term  in  grammar. 
Introduction,  page  19. 
simple  and  compound,  T39. 
has  always  a  verb  expressed 
or  understood,  224,  225. 

Sentence-making,  page  196. 

Signs  in  verbs,  shall,  should, 
may,  might,  can,  could, 
will,  would,  must,  119, 
255,  258. 

Singular  number,  41. 

Singular  or  plural  number 
after  a  noun  of  multi- 
tude, 244. 

Six  lessons  to  prevent  states- 
men from  using  false 
grammar,  page  201,  et 
sea. 

So,  soever,  ever,  209. 

So,  such,  143. 

Speaker's,  the,  speech  to  the 
Prince  Regent,  page  204, 
et  sea. 

Specimens  of  false  grammar, 
pages  165-187. 

"  Spectator,"  No.  411,  ungram- 
matical  passage  from. 
175. 


INDEX. 


■53 


Speech,  parts  of,  n. 

Star,  a  mark  usually  referring 

to  a  note,  152. 
Statesmen,  six  lessons  to,  page 

201,  et  seq. 
Stops  used  in  writing,  9,  137- 

156. 
Study,  method  of,  10,  120,  131- 

133,  135- 
Subjunctive  mode,  95,  274. 

when  to  be  used,  277-281. 
Syntax  defined,  9. 

generally  considered,  135. 
of  points   and   marks,    137- 

156. 
of  articles,  157-163. 
nouns,  164-173. 
pronouns,  174-214. 
adjectives,  215-222. 
verbs,  223-283. 
adverbs,    prepositions,    con- 
junctions, 283,  284. 


I  They  and  them  v  <ongly  used 
for  those ;  r^o. 
Thing,  a  use  of  the  word,  285. 
'  This,   demonstrative  pronoun, 
67. 
Those,  right  use  of,  210. 
Time  in  verbs — present,  past, 
future,  90,  255. 
compound,  256,  258. 
past,    confounded   with    the 
passive  participle,  262. 
To,    a  sign  prefixed  to  verbs, 
and  part  of  the  verb,  93. 
the    sign    of    the    infinitive 
mode,  231. 
Tull,    Mr.,    author   of    "  New 
Horse-hoeing  Husband- 
ry," see  note,  page  88. 
Tull's,  Mr.,  omission  of  a  pa- 
renthesis, 146. 
omission  of  the  definite  arti= 
cle,  159. 


Tense.     See  Time. 

Than  and  as,  followed  by  the 

objective  case,  185. 
Than  whom,  200. 
That,    the    restrictive    relative 
pronoun.  Editor's  notes 
pages  6,  7,  119. 
That,  relative  pronoun,  64. 
demonstrative  pronoun,  67. 
a  conjunction,  67. 
as  a  relative,  can  not  take  a 
preposition  or  verb  im-  \ 
mediately  before  it,  e.g.,  j 
the  man  to  that  I  gave  a 
book,  202. 
as  a  relative,  is  applied  either 

to  persons  or  things,  202.  | 
employed   indifferently  with 
which,  203. 
The,  definite  article,  13,  35. 
Them  and  they,  wrongly  used 

for  those,  210. 
There,  adverb,  having  no  refer- 
ence to  place,  61. 


Verbs  defined,  23-25. 
etymology  of,  82-120. 
sorts  of,  83. 
active,  83,  84. 
passive,  83,  262,  268. 
neuter,  83,  84,  268. 
person  in,  86. 
number  in,  89. 
time  in,  90,  255-258. 
modes  in,  91,  273-280. 
signs  used  with,  91,  93,  119, 

258. 
conjugation  of  to  work,  98. 
conjugation  of  to  have,   115. 
conjugation  of  to  be,  117. 
auxiliary,  103. 
regular,  104. 

falsely  deemed  irregular,  108. 
irregular,  107. 
defective,  119. 
impersonal,  119. 
syntax  of,  223-282. 
expressed   or  understood  in 

all  sentences,  224,  225. 


254 


INDEX. 


Verbs  govei  |  nouns  and  pro- 
nouns :n  the  objective 
case,  230. 

agree  in  number  and  person 
with  their  nominatives, 
238. 

singular  or  plural  after  nouns 
of  multitude,  244. 

in  pursuit  of  their  nomina- 
tives, run  through  rela- 
tive, pronouns  to  come  at 
their  antecedents,  245. 

active  in  one  sense  and  neu- 
ter in  another,  270. 

participles  of,  97,  262-264, 
272. 

bad  grammar  in  the  use  of, 
page  175. 
Very  right,  very  wrong,  220. 
Vowels,  the,  6. 

Wanted,  wanting,  260. 

Watts,  Dr.,  bad  grammar  in, 
pages  168-186. 

Wellesley's,  Marquis,  dispatch- 
es, bad  grammar  in,  page 

234. 

Wellington's,  Duke  of,  dis- 
patch, bad  grammar  in, 
page  225. 

What,  demonstrative  pronoun, 
67,  70. 
interrogative   pronoun,    205, 
207. 

Which,    relative   pronoun,  62, 

65. 
applied  to  irrational  beings 

only,  203. 
and    employed    indifferently 

with  that,  203. 
with  nouns  of  multitude,  204. 


Which  or  who  after  nouns  ot 
multitude  consisting  of 
rational  creatures,  204. 

Who,  relative  pronoun,  62. 
interrogative     pronoun,    69, 
205. 

Who  and  which,  the  co-ordi- 
nating relative  pronouns. 
See  Editor's  note,  pages 
6,7. 

Who  or  which,  applied  to  nouns 
of  multitude,  204. 

Whose  and  of  which,  and 
whose  used  for  the  pur- 
pose of  restriction.  See 
quotation  from  ' '  The 
Verbalist,"    pages     114, 

US- 
Will,     would,    shall,     should, 

may,  might,  can,  could, 

verbal   signs,    119,    255, 

258. 
Winchester's,  Bishop  of, charge, 

bad   grammar  in,  page 

243. 

With,  added  to  nominatives, 
e.  g.,  he,  with  them,  arey 
246. 

Editor's  remark  on  the  above, 
page  142. 
Words,  the  same,  but  belong- 
ing to  more  than    one 
part  of  speech,  130. 

left  out,  228,  27S. 

wrongly  placed,  page  184. 

connecting,     use     of,    page 
19S. 

big,  with  the  appearance  of 
force,  page  215. 
Writing,  bad,   not  always  un- 
grammatical,  page  zca. 


(33) 


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